The Chatroom
by Merthurtilidie
Summary: Arthur is a bored teen living in London who is given a site by his sister, hoping he will meet someone and make some friends. Luckily 'Ihatemylife' fills that description. A/M Slash, please review!
1. Can't make friends?

Chat room

'_Ihatemylife' has signed on_

Arthur pondered over the unusual name for a moment, before clicking on the contact. Hell that was what this site was for wasn't it?_ 'A chat room for people too shy to make friends by themselves.' _When would Morgana see that he wasn't too shy to make friends, he just didn't want to hang around with the bunch of idiots that live in this area.

_Prince: Hey_

Arthur waited for a few minutes without receiving a reply. He shrugged and looked through the rest of the list of people online, they all sounded like idiots. _Babsyluvuxx? _Come on! What sort of name is that?

_Ihatemylife: Hello_

Arthur quickly clicked back to the conversation he had started, and began typing.

_Prince: What took you so long to reply?_

_Ihatemylife: Dunno, you sounded like a bit of a Prat *Prince? Really?*so I decided not to talk to you, but I was bored so I thought I might as well._

_Prince: Oh, that's nice, great, thanks. Not. I'm not a Prat anyway; I am actually a prince, well kind of._

_Ihatemylife: Kind of?_

_Prince: Well my father is 'The King' of 'Pendragon Inc' so, that makes me the prince!_

_Ihatemylife: Oh okay, still sound like a Prat to me though._

_Prince: Have you not heard of 'Pendragon Inc'?!?!_

_Ihatemylife: Of course I have! It's a multi-million dollar lawyer firm, one of the biggest in the world! I'm not an idiot!_

_Prince: Sound like one to me._

_Ihatemylife: You can't say that! You don't even know me!_

_Prince: You don't know me yet you called me a Prat!_

_Ihatemylife: You are a Prat!_

_Prince: And you're an idiot!!_

There was no reply. Arthur sat back and took a deep breath, realising how angry he had just got with some person he didn't know for a reason which didn't matter. He couldn't even tell if they were male of female!

_Prince: Sorry, I got a bit angry there...I'm not usually like that._

_Ihatemylife: Same here. Sorry._

_Prince: I'm Arthur_

_Ihatemylife: Merlin_

Arthur smiled, Merlin.

_Prince: So, Merlin, are you 'too shy to make friends'?_

_Ihatemylife: Haha No, my friend 'recommended' it too me, it's my first time on the site. I have plenty of friends, including her, so I don't see why she thought I would need to go on here. What about you? The 'Prince' can't make friends?_

_Prince: I could make friends if I wanted too, but you should see the kind of idiots that live around where I live, trust me, its better not to have any friends. My half-sister gave me the site. _

_Ihatemylife: Haha, yeah I know what you mean; I swear half the people in my English class don't have two brain cells to rub together!_

Arthur laughed out loud, thinking of Valiant, and knowing exactly what this boy was talking about.

_Prince: You know Merlin, you might not be as much of an idiot as I previously suspected_

_Ihatemylife: Yeah, you're still a Prat, but maybe not as much of a Prat as I previously suspected either._

Arthur couldn't help but smile.

_Prince: Well, I guess that's a start _

_Ihatemylife: I guess it must be... so, what's it like being the son of 'The King'?_

_Prince: Great_

_Ihatemylife: Seriously? I would have thought it would be boring as hell._

_Prince: Well, it can get boring sometimes..._

_Ihatemylife: How often do you go out every week?_

_Prince: What?_

_Ihatemylife: You heard me, or read me, read it... whatever, you know what I said! Wrote..?_

Arthur chuckled, before thinking back to the last time he went out in the evening, before remembering he had never been out in the evening, his father wouldn't allow it.

_Prince: Never _He decided he might as well answer truthfully as he would never actually meet this boy, so why not?

_Ihatemylife: See! You see! How could you live with that?! I would hate it!_

_Prince: *shrugs* I just get used to it, it's all I've known._

_Ihatemylife: You need to go out. Does your half-sister ever go out in the evenings?_

_Prince: Yeah, but she's not meant to_

_Ihatemylife: Go out with her! Have some fun! It might stop you being so much of a Prat, you never know._

_Prince: I'll think about it, why? How many times a week do you go out?_

_Ihatemylife: Twice most weeks, three if I'm lucky_

Arthur's eyes widened

_Prince: How do you find the time to go out three times a week!_

_Ihatemylife: I don't!! That's why I usually stick with two! Lol_

_Prince: Haha, okay_

_Ihatemylife: Uh oh, Got to go, mum has just seen the state of my room!! : S_

_Prince: Haha, have fun with that!_

_Ihatemylife: I'm sure I will, Urm, I'll be online again tomorrow, same time-ish..._

_Prince: Okay, talk to you then_

_Ihatemylife has signed out._

Arthur stared at the screen for a few minutes, before closing the conversation. There was something about Merlin, but he couldn't put his finger on it...

_Babsyluvuxx: Ommgg!! Hii x_

_Prince: Urm..._

_Babsyluvuxx: R u lyke, a reeal princeee?? Xx_

_Prince has signed out_


	2. Nice photo!

Chapter 2

"What are you doing?"

Arthur jumped, knocking his laptop on the floor. Morgana giggled.

"Go away Morgana!" He growled, picking up his laptop, opening it quickly and scanning the screen. Morgana watched as his face fell, obviously disappointed by something.

"What are you looking at?" Arthur snapped his laptop closed again.

"Nothing." He spoke quickly. Morgana snatched the laptop out of his hands and tore it open.

"You're actually on this site? Did you meet someone?" Arthur grabbed his laptop back and put it under his pillow.

"No." His half sister raised her eyebrows. "Morgana, it's none of your business anyway, and I'm not even on my laptop now." He pulled a book off the shelf to the right of him and opened it on a random page. "Now if you'll excuse me, I would like to read this book." He stared down at his book, waiting for his sister to leave. She stood there for minute, hands on her hips, before turning and walking out of the door.

Arthur dropped his book to the floor and reached under his pillow, snatching his laptop from under it and placing it on his lap. Smiling, he opened the lid and looked through the contact list again.

_Ihatemylife: Been out yet?_

Arthur grinned and typed back

_Prince: Not yet! Give me a chance!_

_Ihatemylife: Okay, okay! How was your day?_

_Prince: Meh, It was alright, I had an English exam today *yawns* It was easy._

_Ihatemylife: Oh, so you like English then?_

_Prince: Yeah, I've always had a thing for writing. You?_

_Ihatemylife: Yeah I like to write, although I find it easier to express myself though paper and a pencil._

_Prince: Ahh, so I could be talking to the next Van Gogh?_

_Ihatemylife: Haha, no I wouldn't say that._

_Prince: So you like it, but you're not good at it?_

_Ihatemylife: I didn't say I wasn't good, I said I wouldn't say I was the next Van Gogh, I want to be a doctor._

_Prince: A doctor?_

_Ihatemylife: Yeah, It would be great. I'd be able to save lives._

_Prince: All that blood_

_Ihatemylife: That's fine_

_Prince: And sick_

_Ihatemylife: I can deal with that_

_Prince: But people might die on you._

There was no response. Arthur suddenly felt really bad.

_Prince: Sorry, I'm not trying to put you off, I was just saying why I couldn't be a doctor..._

_Ihatemylife: It's fine. That would just be part of the job._

_Prince: I think it would be great if that's what you want to do._

_Ihatemylife: Really?_

_Prince: Yeah sure. I'd love to write books, but that won't happen!_

_Ihatemylife: Why not?_

_Prince: I wouldn't know how._

_Ihatemylife: Fair enough, Haha._

_Prince: Where do you live? I'm not a peedo or anything, I don't need your exact address, Lol, just... you know._

_Ihatemylife: Warwick_

_Prince: Warwick?_

_Ihatemylife: It's in the midlands, in Warwickshire. Where do you live?_

_Prince: London *rolls eyes*_

_Ihatemylife: I could have guessed!_

_Prince: I'm surprised you didn't._

_Ihatemylife: Yeah, not many people have heard of Warwick. It's not exactly 'well known'. It's pretty though, and there's a great castle._

_Prince: Really? Sounds cool_

_Ihatemylife: Cool isn't the word I would use, but it's nice._

_Prince: Oh okay. London is boring as anything_

_Ihatemylife: :O No way! I love London!_

_Prince: You wouldn't if you lived here!_

_Ihatemylife: I bet I would! The Tate Modern and Britain, Madame Tussauds, All the Theatres. I would love every day._

_Prince: You mean apart from the traffic and noise and bums begging for money. It's disgusting._

_Ihatemylife: If you say so._

_Prince: If you don't mind me saying, you sound pretty upbeat to me. Why the name?_

_Ihatemylife: Oh, It generally puts off hyper chavvy girls. I don't really hate my life._

_Prince: Oh, well that's good._

_Ihatemylife: Brb, Gwen is ringing me. *she's the friend who gave me the site.*_

_Prince: Okay_

Arthur stared at the screen for a second before leaning back. What was it about this Merlin which made him so interesting?

"So you lied then?" If anyone said Arthur screamed like a girl right then he would lie and say no.

"MORGANA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?!" He snapped the lid of his laptop down and threw it on the bed behind him. She rolled her eyes from where she was standing behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"There's no need to do that. I've been standing behind you for about ten minutes. Who's Ihatemylife then?"

"No one. It doesn't matter. Why do you care? Go away." Arthur felt the heat creep up his neck.

"Are you blushing?" This comment made Arthur blush even more. "Look, I'm just glad you've finally made a friend." She laughed as Arthur stood up, chasing her out of his room and locking the door behind him.

His laptop beeped from on top of his quilt. He picked it up and leant with his back up against the door to make sure no nosey people could come in and spy on him. Not naming any names, _**Morgana.**_

_Ihatemylife: I was talking to Gwen and she thinks I should send you a picture of me... :S_

'He was talking about me?' Arthur smiled.

_Prince: You were talking about me?_

_Ihatemylife: Yeah, do you mind?_

_Prince: No no, that's fine._

_Ihatemylife: So, do you want a picture?_

_Prince: Urm, yeah okay. Shall I send you one?_

_Ihatemylife: Yeah if you want_

_Prince: Okay, hold on I should have one on here somewhere._

Arthur panicked. He had hundreds of pictures on his laptop (yes he was vain and there was a webcam on it, go figure). How was he going to find a good one?

Then he remembered the picture he had sent in for his yearbook. It had taken him weeks to choose that picture and it was pretty good if he did say so himself. His blonde hair was flicked over his eyes, slightly squinting in the sun, making it look natural and un-posed, although it was definitely posed.

_Prince: Here you go. _He attached the photo to the message and pressed send.

_Ihatemylife: Okay, here is mine. This is the one Gwen said I should send you, I don't really like it but she said it was 'very me.' Whatever that means._ Arthur clicked on the link.

"Wow." Arthur looked around to make sure no one had heard his exclamation, before looking back to the picture in front of him. Merlin appeared to be very good looking, in a really odd way. Arthur couldn't quite figure it out. He had high, angular cheek bones and a straight nose, bright blue eyes which were accentuated by the dark mop of black hair cut short around his face, ruffled in an attempt to hide a pair of rather large ears, but Arthur barely noticed them. He couldn't take his eyes off Merlin's lips, pink and pouted, slightly wet as if they had just been licked- Wait. What was he doing?

Arthur slammed his laptop lid down and took a deep breath in, calming himself.

He had never thought of anyone like that, Male or female. He brought a hand up and ran it through his blonde locks, sighing. His laptop beeped again.

Opening the lid tentatively, he closed down the picture of Merlin and looked at the conversation again.

_Ihatemylife: Did you get it?_

_Prince: Yeah I did, it's a good photo._

_Ihatemylife: Thanks, yours too._

_Prince: Thanks._

"Arthur! Dinner! Now!" Morgana screamed up the stairs.

_Prince: I have to go eat now. I'll talk to you soon._

_Ihatemylife: Okay. Tomorrow?_

_Prince: Yeah okay _

"ARTHUR!" He closed the site down, shut his laptop and ran downstairs, fearing the wrath of an angry Morgana.


	3. Do you wanna come?

Chapter Three

"Wow."

"I know." Merlin fell backwards onto his little, unmade bed, crying out with pain as a mislaid hanger dug into his back. Gwen didn't even notice.

"He is gorgeous!" Merlin sat up again, rubbing his back.

"Yes Gwen, I know he is." She bit her lip.

"Do you think you could give him my email address?" He laughed.

"No! He's mine, find your own prince." They both giggled as Merlin took his battered laptop off his friend and placed it on his own lap.

"So when are you talking to him next?"

"Today, I'm not sure what time though." There was a beep from Gwen's pocket. "Lance?" His friend shrugged before pulling her phone out.

"Yup," She grinned, "He wants to know if I'm doing anything tomorrow!" She squealed.

"See, you don't need Arthur."

"You're right, you can have him." She grinned before taking his laptop back. "He is gorgeous though."

"Yes Gwen, you've already said that."

"I know but look at him!" Merlin laughed as Gwen pretended to swoon, falling backwards onto Merlin's bed. "OW! What the hell!" She picked up the hanger Merlin had landed on and threw it across the room.

"Gwen!"

"What! That hurt!" Merlin chuckled again, grabbing his laptop as it beeped at him.

"Is it him?! Let me see!" Gwen leant over Merlin's shoulder as he opened the flashing tab at the bottom of the screen.

_Prince: I went out with Morgana yesterday!_ Merlin's face fell. Morgana?

_Prince: *She's my half sister by the way. _He smiled, sighing with relief.

_Ihatemylife: Good! Did you have a good time? _He ignored Gwen as she raised an eyebrow, obviously concerned as to the conversations the two have been having.

_Prince: No! It was awful. Loud music and slaggy chav's dancing and drinking all over the place. It was appalling._

_Ihatemylife: You're obviously not going to the right places._

_Prince: I guess not. How was your day?_

_Ihatemylife: Good I guess. You?_

_Prince: It was pretty bad. I'm still upset about my favourite show finishing yesterday. :'(_

_Ihatemylife: The one about the Prince and his Manservant and Magic and stuff?_

_Prince: Yeah! Have you seen it?_

_Ihatemylife: I watched a few episodes. It was pretty good. I knew it finished yesterday though. It was a poor ending, I thought the Prince should have seen his servant do magic. Or the King should have died! He's a bastard! *s'cuse the language*_

_Prince: Yeah! I thought the same!! And I hate that girl the prince is falling for. She's a sap._

_Ihatemylife: Yeah, lol._

_Prince: Oh well, they're going to do another series. So it's all good. :D_

_Ihatemylife: Yeah._

Merlin tapped the bottom of his laptop with his fingers, unsure of what to write next.

"Tell him Gwen thinks his picture is amazing." He turned around to raise an eyebrow at his friend, before turning back to the screen.

_Ihatemylife: My friend, Gwen, thought you're picture was 'amazing'._

_Prince: Oh okay, tell her thanks._

_Ihatemylife: Will do. _"He said thanks"

_Prince: Morgana thought your picture was really good too. She's been spying on me._

_Ihatemylife: Haha, okay. Did I tell you I'm going to London next week with Gwen?_

_Prince: No, whereabouts?_

_Ihatemylife: I'm not sure yet. Any suggestions?_

_Prince: What's your budget?_

_Ihatemylife: Urm, not particularly big._

_Prince: Right...There are some great shows on._

_Ihatemylife: Yeah that could be good._

_Prince: Google it. Would you prefer to see a proper show or a Panto?_

_Merlin: Well, seeing as it's nearly Christmas, a Panto would be nice._

_Prince: Aladdin is on, here, ._

_Merlin: Oh okay thanks. _

Merlin clicked on the link and read the descriptions. It looked good.

"Ask him if he wants to come with us!"

"No!" Merlin shrieked in horror at his friend's suggestion. He couldn't ask him to come and see a _**panto**_with him!!

"Fine. OH MY GOD! LOOK AT THAT SPIDER! IT'S MASSIVE!!!" Gwen stood up on Merlin's bed and pointed at the floor. Merlin stood up and started stomping randomly at the floor.

"Where?!" Gwen snatched the laptop out of Merlin's hands and ran into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.

"Nowhere!!"

"Gwen!!" Merlin banged on the door. "Gwen don't!"

"Is everything alright up there?" Hunith called from upstairs, hearing the shouting.

"Yeah mum, everything's fine!" Merlin leant against the door, pressing his ear against it to hear Gwen typing. "Please don't Gwen." He kept his voice calm, so his mum didn't come up to see what the problem was.

"Too late!" She giggled through the door, causing her friend to let out a groan.

"I hate you." The door opened, making Merlin fall flat on his back.

Gwen giggled. "You love me really. Especially since your 'prince' said he would come.

"He did?" Merlin snatched the laptop out of Gwen's hands and read the conversation.

_Ihatemylife: Do you want to come and see it with us?_

_Prince: What?_

_Ihatemylife: Well you said you don't go out very much, or at all, so it would be nice for you._

_Prince: Urm I guess so._

_Ihatemylife: Okay cool, I'll talk to you tomorrow about times and stuff._

_Prince: Okay_

"Gwen!" Merlin gaped at the screen in horror. "Did you have to be so blunt? Seriously!" His friend shrugged. "At least he's coming. That'll be nice!"

Merlin groaned and fell back down to the floor.

* * *

Arthur stared down at the screen in confusion. Did he just agree to go out with someone he'd never met before, to go and see a panto?

Weird.


	4. Yes Father

Chapter Four

"Oh can I come?!" Arthur rolled his eyes at his half sister as he put his key in the door.

"No Morgana. I don't really know what's going on myself." Morgana pushed him into the house as soon as the door was open and slammed the door behind her.

"That's why I have to come! I need to check out this 'Merlin'. Make sure he's not a freak or anything. Oh please!" Arthur's eyes widened. Morgana rarely said please to anyone, let alone him.

"Fine whatever. Just don't embarrass me." Arthur ran upstairs to check his laptop, leaving Morgana to grin to herself.

"I'm sure I will." She giggled and went to make herself a sandwich.

_Ihatemylife: Are you there?_

_Prince: Yeah, sorry I just got back._

_Ihatemylife: about yesterday, If you don't want to come to the Panto with us, you don't have to._

_Prince: No I'd like to. Morgana wants to come too, if that's all right._

_Ihatemylife: Yeah I'm sure that'll be fine. We think we're going to see it on Saturday at six._

_Prince: Yeah that should be fine._

_Ihatemylife: Great. Oh hold on, my mum's calling me_

_Prince: Okay_

Arthur looked around his bedroom. It was boring. There were no other words to describe it. Well, except for maybe grand, huge, expensive... that sort of thing.

Three of the walls were cream and one was red. Paintings scattered the walls along with shelves of old, dusty books. Arthur sighed and fell flat on his back, sinking into his sheets.

"Arthur! Come in here now!" The teen jumped off his bed and flew into his father's office from where he was calling.

"Yes father." Uther Pendragon was a scary man. He even scared his own son. At this moment he was standing by his desk, clutching a stack of papers Arthur recognised only too well.

"What the hell is this?!" The papers flew into Arthurs face. He stood stock still, eyes closed as they fell to the floor.

"A story father." He opened his eyes to see his father glaring at him.

"A story? A STORY! You are the heir to my company! You will take over when I am gone and you're sitting around writing STORIES!" Uther's face was going red with anger, his fists clenched at his sides. "And not only that! The content of this _story!_" He spat out the word like it was poison tainting his tongue. "Would you care to explain?!" Uther hissed through his teeth, eyes narrowed and face bright red.

"Sorry father."

"SORRY!? You've written about a... a GAY Arthur!" His son ducked his head. "Why?!"

"It's just a story father. It doesn't mean anything." Arthur began to get angry, raising his head to meet his father's gaze. "But so what if it did! So what if I was gay!" Uther slapped him across the face.

"Don't you ever say that!" He spat. "Now get out of my sight!" Arthur grabbed his burning cheek and fled to his room, slamming the door behind him. His laptop was flashing on his bed, but he couldn't bring himself to look at it. He just sank to the floor next to his door and sobbed, curling up into a foetus position.

* * *

_Ihatemylife: Back_

_Ihatemylife: Arthur?_

Merlin furrowed his brow. Why wasn't he answering?

He leant back onto the wooden frame of his chair and put his feet on his desk, flailing his arms around slightly as his chair began to tip, but managed to regain balance. He looked over to the open laptop on his desk to see if Arthur had written back... apparently not.

"Merlin!" The sound made Merlin loose balance completely, causing him to fall flat on his back, legs waving wildly in the air.

"Merlin Gwen's here... What on earth are you doing?" His mother gawped at her son, who was lying across the floor on top of a broken chair.

"Ow!" Hunith hurried over to help her son up, who rubbed at his back furiously. "That hurt!"

"So I can see. Shall I ring Gaius?"

"No it's okay, he's on his holiday. I'm sure I'll be fine anyway." He smiled reassuringly at his mother, who still looked majorly concerned for her son.

"Merlin I just came to see if you'd spoken too-" She trailed off when she saw the wooden chair, broken and strewn across the floor of Merlin's room. "I'm not even going to ask." Merlin blushed.

"I fell off."

"I guessed that much."

"I'll leave you too it."Hunith grinned and walked out of the door, closing it behind her.

"Have you spoken to Arthur?" Gwen stepped over the bits of wood and picked up the laptop off the desk.

"Yeah, but he's not replying anymore." Merlin walked over to where Gwen had sat herself on his bed, reading the previous conversation.

"Oh that's good," She pointed to the screen. "I would quite like to meet Morgana, she sounds pretty cool!" Merlin laughed. "Oh! He's replied!" Merlin grabbed the laptop and pulled it onto his lap.

_Prince: Sorry, my father called._

_Ihatemylife: Oh, that's fine._

_Prince: I'm not really in the mood for talking right now so I'm going to go_

_Ihatemylife: Wait! What's up?"_

Merlin moved to face the laptop away from Gwen, knowing this was a private conversation.

"What are you doing?"

"He's not talking to you. He's talking to me." Merlin snapped, turning his attention back to the screen. Gwen stared at him, bewildered.

_Prince: I don't want to talk about it._

_Ihatemylife: Sometimes it's better to say then not say_

_Prince: Not when it comes to my father!_

_Ihatemylife: If I tell you something about me that I've never told anyone before... Would that help?_

_Prince: Why would you do that?_

_Ihatemylife: I don't know. I guess I can't see any reason not to._

_Prince: Okay. You tell me, I'll tell you._

_Ihatemylife: My father was an alcoholic. I hated him. He would come home every night stinking of alcohol and he would beat my mother. I was glad when he died. I was only five. _Merlin felt his eyes watering and lifted a hand to wipe away any stray tears. Gwen took it as a signal to leave and backed out of the door.

_Prince: Oh I'm sorry_

_Ihatemylife: That's fine, what about you?_

_Prince: It seems petty now. My father saw a story I had written. He hates that I write. He wants me to take over the family business and he thinks writing is a waste of time. Plus he was really pissed about the plot being about a gay._

_Ihatemylife: What's wrong with being gay?_

_Prince: Nothing! I don't think so anyway. But my father hates it._

_Ihatemylife: And are you gay? Is that what's so upsetting about it?_

_Prince: I don't know. It's hard. I've never really thought about it._

_Ihatemylife: I know what you mean. It never seems to make any sense._

_Prince: Are you gay?_

_Ihatemylife: Yeah. Always have been, I think._

_Prince: How did you know?_

_Ihatemylife: I fancied boy's rather than girls! _

_Prince: Well yeah..._

_Ihatemylife: Don't think about it. It's just whatever's natural._

_Prince: Thanks._

_Ihatemylife: What for?_

_Prince: For talking to me. You were right. I needed that!_

_Ihatemylife: I'm always right._

_Prince: Haha. I have to go. Morgana wants to talk about earlier. I best not ignore her._

_Ihatemylife: Okay. I'll talk to you before Saturday._

_Prince has signed out._

Merlin smiled at the screen before closing his laptop and going downstairs to find his friend.


	5. A story of a Prince

Chapter Five

"So do you know what you and Gwen are going to do when you go to London at the weekend yet?" Hunith looked up at her son over her breakfast to see a small smile playing across his lips.

"Yes actually. We're going to watch a panto, seeing as it's close to Christmas." He looked up at his beaming mother, before shovelling a large spoonful of frosties into his mouth, spilling milk down his chin.

"Here." Hunith grabbed a piece of kitchen roll and tossed it to her son, who ignore it and wiped his chin with his sleeve. "Oh Merlin!"

"What?"

"Take your shirt off. It's covered in milk!" Merlin shook his head and shoved the rest of his cereal in his mouth, standing up all the while.

"Nmph-nmph-school-mrph." Was what Hunith heard through Merlin's full mouth, before he grabbed his bag and ran for the door.

"Don't talk with your mouth full!! Have a good day!" She called, sticking her head out of the kitchen door to see her son fall out of the front door, attempting to put his bag on his back. "Boys." She shook her head and went back in to finish her own breakfast.

* * *

"He found my story."

"What story?"

"One I wrote."

"What about?"

"Morgana it's really none of your business." She sighed and nodded.

"Your right, it's none of my business. But you know, sometimes it's easier if you talk to people, rather than keep it inside." Arthur's eyes widened as she effectively quoted Merlin yesterday.

"It's fine Morgana. I'm over it, I'm not even angry anymore." His half-sister groaned.

"Please tell me!"

"No, the bus is here." They both turned to see their usual bus turn the corner and plod towards them, painfully slowly.

"You will tell me." She growled, pushing past him to get onto the bus. Arthur shook his head before showing the driver his bus pass and taking his own seat at the front.

* * *

"Did you have a nice chat yesterday?" Merlin looked over at his friends hurt expression.

"I'm sorry Gwen. But we were talking about something private; I don't think he would have wanted you to know." He put his arms around her and pulled her into a hug, which she returned.

"I know. Oh well, its Friday today! Which means we're going to London tomorrow!" She grinned at Merlin, who imitated her expression.

"I know I can't wait!" The bell rang, causing both youths to jump. "I have English." Merlin smiled as he remembered Arthur's comment about wanting to write.

"Maths." Gwen shrugged as they both went their separate ways.

* * *

Arthur sat through his English lesson, writing his own story in the back of his book, ignoring whatever it was the teacher was talking about.

His story started off as many did, for a reason that escaped him, with a prince. This prince resembled him in many ways, looks and manner. But this story differed from anything else he had ever written. It was in a servant's point of view.

_I looked over to my master, standing over the balcony outside his bedroom, light shining past him, casting shadow into the room. I put down the armour I was polishing and went to stand by his side, as it should be._

"_Is something wrong sire?" He turned to face me, drinking in my features, his face lined with worry._

"_I don't want to hide anymore." And with that, the noble man I had come to love broke down in front of me, eyes streaming, face covered with dirtied hands. I bent down to pull my master, and lover, into a reassuring embrace._

"_You don't have to." I allowed him to cry into my shirt, arms around my waist. I kissed him on top of his golden mop, which was sticking to his face with the rain which had began to fall, protruding from the sky in little droplets, sharp on our skin._

_I pulled my master from the balcony back into the comforts of his chambers, him sobbing all the way._

"_Sire I_

"What do you think Arthur?" Arthur dropped his pen down and looked up to his teacher, who was staring at him, eyebrows raised.

"Urm," He looked around for inspiration, before spotting the book in his teacher's hand, 'Lord of the flies.' He also noted that his teacher had written Ralph/Piggy on the board. "About Piggy and Ralph's relationship?" He guessed. His teacher, thankfully, nodded.

"Well, Ralph is a natural born leader, he is built strong and is supposed to be good looking, and therefore people elect him as a leader. Piggy on the other hand is shy and is not used to leading, so despite the fact he is intelligent and has good ideas, he sticks to Ralph because he doesn't have the confidence to lead on his own. Through this, they become good friends, which Ralph doesn't realise until Piggy is killed."

The whole class stared at him in disbelief. His teacher simply nodded and turned back to the board. Arthur picked up his pen and continued writing, knowing it was unlikely he would get chosen again.

* * *

_Prince: So six tomorrow?_

_Ihatemylife: Yeah, that's the plan._

_Prince: Good. Did you have a good day?_

_Ihatemylife: Yeah it was good. You?_

_Prince: Yes actually, I wrote another story, nowhere near as long as my last one, in the back of my English book._

_Ihatemylife: Really? What's it about?_

_Prince: A prince and his manservant falling in love through a friendship caused by the constant time spent together._

_Ihatemylife: Wow, cool. Sounds good, I'd love to read it. _

_Prince: You can if you like. I'll bring it tomorrow._

_Ihatemylife: I'd like that. _Merlin smiled.

_Prince: Morgana wants to know what you're both wearing so she can pick an outfit._

_Ihatemylife: I'm going to wear the first things to fall out of my wardrobe when it opens and I'm not sure about Gwen. Sorry._

_Prince: No problem. It's not me who wants to know, she'll get over it I'm sure._

_Ihatemylife: Haha Okay. What were you planning to wear?_

_Prince: Honestly, I have no idea. _Merlin doubted this, Arthur sounded like the type to lay all his clothes out on his bed the night before going out.

* * *

Arthur laid his favourite pair of skinny jeans and red shirt on his bed before typing back.

_Prince: Honestly, I have no idea._

* * *

_**Thanks for all the reviews guys! *Much love***_

_**London tomorrow! What's going to happen? Hmmm...**_


	6. You tired?

Chapter Six

"Are you ready Merlin?" Gwen shouted up the stairs. Merlin stood in front of the mirror, staring at his outfit. What he had said to Arthur yesterday was a bit of a lie, he currently had the whole of his wardrobe strewn across his bedroom floor.

He had settled on a black T-shirt and dark skinny jeans, along with his favourite black converse. It still felt like there was something missing though. Merlin searched around his room for something to finish it off. He saw a strip of red hanging off the back of the door.

Running over to the door he pulled down the red materiel and tied it round his wrist. He walked over to his drawers and selected a matching red belt and attached it to his jeans.

"Merlin!" He ran over to the mirror, happy with what he saw, and hurried downstairs, pulling on a black hoodie as he went.

"You look nice." He commented, gesturing towards Gwen's lavender dress. "But won't you be a bit cold?"

"I have a coat, now come on or we'll be late!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the door, waving goodbye to his humoured mother.

* * *

"Morgana, seriously how long does it take to do your hair?" Arthur tapped his foot impatiently from outside the bathroom door, checking his watch.

His half-sister emerged, hair twisted back into a neat bun and make-up perfectly applied. She was wearing a long, dark green smock over black leggings and Ugg boots.

"How do I look?" She twirled slowly.

"Fine now can we go?" Arthur started walking down the stairs, leaving Morgana frowning at him, before scurrying in the same direction. Arthur was her lift after all.

* * *

"Is this it?" Merlin pressed his face against the window in the taxi, staring up at the large white building in front of him. There were two large pictures of, what he assumed was, Aladdin and the Genie.

"Yes. That'll be £22 please." Merlin pulled his attention away from the window and Gwen stared at the taxi driver in shock.

"£22! Are you serious?" Merlin's mouth was hanging open.

"6 miles. £22" The driver stuck out his hand and Merlin shoved a £20 pound note into it, along with two pound coins.

"Yeah Merry Christmas." Both youths ducked out of the taxi, watching it speed off the minute both doors were closed.

"What time is it?" Merlin looked at his watch.

"Urm, quarter to, we still have fifteen minutes."

"Shall we go and get our tickets?" Gwen walked past Merlin and up the stairs into the building.

"Yeah." Merlin followed her in, staring up at the high ceilings and grand decor in awe.

"Four tickets please." She grinned at the handsome man behind the till, who winked at her, taking the money and producing four tickets grandly from under the desk. Merlin chuckled, shaking his head at the blatant flirting, before turning his attention to the posters scattered around the foyer, advertising different plays and pantos.

His attention was grabbed however, when he saw two beautiful people enter the building, heads held as if they owned the place. His eyes fixed on the face of the blonde male, serene and beautiful. He was dressed casually in a pair of skinny jeans, not too dissimilar to his own, and a red t-shirt with a brown jacket. The blonde turned his head away from his companion to make eye contact with Merlin, blue meeting blue, both stopping in their tracks, simply staring.

"Merlin?" Gwen came up behind him, holding up the tickets, before looking in the same direction. "Oh."

"It's Arthur." Merlin smiled as the female brunette, Morgana, he assumed, waved her hand in front of Arthur's face.

Gwen waved over to them and Morgana came skipping over, grinning. "Hi I'm Morgana, this is-" She turned back to where Arthur was standing, and waved him over. "This is Arthur." The blonde came to stand beside her and held out his hand to Gwen, who took it blushing.

"Gwen," She grinned.

"Nice to meet you Gwen." He turned towards Merlin, smiling at the grin he received.

"Hello Merlin, nice to meet you." Merlin's grin got impossibly bigger.

"Hi!" He glanced at Morgana and Gwen, who were chatting away like they'd known each other for years. "Gwen has all our tickets."

"Oh, how much do we owe you?" Merlin shook his head.

"Our treat." Arthur smiled.

"If you insist." Merlin nodded. "Alright. Shall we go in?" Both girls bounded up to them, smiling and giggling.

"Okay, let's go." Merlin raised an eyebrow at Arthur, only to see that the blond was doing the exact same thing.

"Girls." He tutted, before following them inside with Arthur by his side.

* * *

"_I don't want to go in the cave! It's so dark and scary!"_

Arthur scoffed at the wimp on stage, 'Aladdin'. He rolled his eyes before turning towards the raven haired boy beside him, grinning at the expression on his face. Merlin was entranced by the show, eyes wide and mouth hanging open.

"Have you never seen a panto before?" He whispered. Merlin turned to face him with a smile.

"Not in London. Only what our town hall puts on at Christmas every year. It's pretty awful." He whispered back. Arthur became aware of the proximity of their faces as he felt the warmth of Merlin's breath as he spoke and was uncharacteristically upset as his companion turned his attention back to the stage.

"You're blushing." Morgana whispered, leaning her face close to Arthur's so Merlin didn't hear her. "You like him!" She grinned. Arthur turned to face her sharply, before glancing back to make sure Merlin wasn't looking. Thankfully, he was still staring at Aladdin in the 'cave'.

"Shut up Morgana!" He hissed, glaring at her.

"You're not denying it." She smiled and bumped shoulders with him playfully. Arthur shrugged and turned his attention back to the stage. He couldn't deny the truth, he did like Merlin.

Morgana grinned and turned back to Gwen, whispering and giggling.

"What was that about?" Merlin turned to face Arthur, who looked back at him, his face an inch away.

"Nothing." He swallowed a lump in his throat, feeling heat climb up his neck and butterflies in his stomach.

"Okay." Merlin turned back to the stage, apparently unaffected by the proximity. Arthur breathed out sharply, trying to focus on the show in front of him and not on the boy sitting next to him.

* * *

Merlin looked up at Arthur from under his lashes, hoping he wouldn't get caught staring, but he couldn't help it, Arthur was beautiful. His heart began racing again, just as it had when Arthur has whispered to him, their faces barely an inch apart. He had never been good with close proximity, so had turned around and pretended to be interested in the show.

He wanted, somehow, to show Arthur that he liked him, but couldn't think of a way. It wasn't exactly something Merlin was used to, and when he had heard Morgana and Arthur talk, he felt the need to do something.

Suddenly an idea struck him and he began to yawn.

"You tired?" Arthur whispered down to him, Merlin nodded, yawning again. The blond turned to look at the stage once more and Merlin's head began to droop.

With one final yawn he rested his head on Arthur's shoulder and closed his eyes, hoping he looked like he was asleep.

He waited for a few minutes, cracking his eyes open slightly to watch the show and wondering how Arthur was reacting before he felt a weight on his own head. He smiled, knowing that the blond was resting his head upon Merlin's own, and began to relax, truly enjoying the performance.

* * *

"Look!" Morgana whispered at Gwen, who peered around to see Merlin asleep on Arthur's shoulder and Arthur resting his head on her friend's.

"Aww!"

"I know!" Both girls giggled before turning their attention back to the... interestingly coloured genie.

* * *

**Next Chapter: Going for a meal or going somewhere else...? :S**

**Any suggestions? I'm a bit stuck! :D**


	7. The Great Dragon

Chapter Seven

"Oh, Arthur what's that place called?" Morgana clicked her fingers in an attempt to remember whatever place it was she was thinking of.

"Honestly Morgana, I don't know what you're talking about." She glared at him, before pressing her hand to her forehead and growling, frustrated at herself for forgetting.

"Oh!" She grinned at looked up at them. "The Great Dragon!" Arthur smiled, remembering the place. It was a little restaurant on a backstreet which barely anyone had heard of. The restaurant was owned by John and Nimueh Hurt, apparently old family friends but whom Arthur had never spoken to as his father had told him they had gone mad.

"Yeah, would you two like to go there? They do a great Lasagne!" Merlin grinned at Arthur, who felt himself blushing again.

"Yeah that sounds great!" Gwen linked arms with Morgana and they practically skipped out of the door.

Arthur shook his head in disbelief. "I will never understand how girls to that."

"Do what?" They both began walking out of the building, shocked by the cold breeze that hit them as soon as they got past the heavy, wooden doors.

"You know," He shoved his hands in his pockets in an attempt to keep warm. "Just become like best friends without ever even speaking before." Merlin ducked his chin in the top of his hoodie; shoulders raised and arms crossed, shivering and teeth chattering. It didn't come as a surprise to Arthur however, as Merlin was all skin and bones.

"Damn its cold!" Morgana shouted back over her shoulder. "Where did we park?"

"Just there." Arthur pointed to a large black car which Merlin recognised as a Range Rover Sport and gawped.

"That's your car?" Arthur shrugged, getting out the keys from his pocket with numb hands and unlocking the doors so the girls could scramble inside until they got there.

"One of them." Merlin's eyes widened.

"One of them! This car costs like, £60,000!" Arthur turned to cock an eyebrow at Merlin in what he hoped was an _'I know, I can afford it'_ way but Merlin was still staring at the car in awe.

"Are you getting in or not? I want to put the heating on." Arthur pulled open the passenger door for Merlin, closing it behind him and walked around the front of the car to get in himself, silently hoping he would remember the way.

* * *

'I'm sitting in a £60,000 car!' was all Merlin could think as he sunk into the soft leather seats, quickly being warmed by the rush of air coming from one of the vents in the dashboard. Well, it was until Arthur came and sat beside him, and then he felt he heartbeat raise and his head begin to spin. Cursing his body for responding without his consent, Merlin prayed Arthur wouldn't notice his shortened breaths.

"You alright?" Damn it!

"Yeah I'm fine, just a bit cold still." Arthur turned up the heating and began reversing out if the parking space.

"So who's Lance then?" Morgana was chatting to Gwen.

"Oh, no one really." Merlin scoffed and turned round as far as his seatbelt would allow.

"He's not no one. You like him and he likes you, it's just you're too blind to see that he likes you."

"He doesn't like me!"

"You see! You my friend have just proven my point." Merlin turned back to look out of the windscreen decisively, receiving a chuckle from the man to his left.

"You're wrong Merlin."

"I'm never wrong." Much to Merlin's annoyance, this caused everyone in the car to laugh.

"How long do you think we have until we get there?" Gwen stuck her head through the gap between the two front seats.

"Not long. About ten minutes, is that okay?" Gwen nodded before pulling hair head back through.

Merlin looked out of the window to see Big Ben and the houses of parliament. "Wow," he breathed.

"You should come here for the day. There's quite a lot to see, when you haven't seen it before." Merlin turned round to nod briefly before turning his attention back out of the window.

* * *

"Hello, my name is Mordred and I will be your waiter for the evening. Can I get you any drinks?"

Merlin attempted not to laugh as the spotty teen recited his line, voice breaking. Arthur however couldn't restrain himself as well as Merlin could and attempted to cover his laughter with a cough. Mordred looked extremely pissed off and only Morgana seemed to sympathise.

"Can I have a coke please? Ignore him," She jabbed a finger at Arthur, "He's an idiot." Mordred nodded and scribbled down Morgana's order, before looking at Gwen.

"Same for me please."

"Yeah me too. What do you want Arthur?" Merlin looked over to where Arthur was still choking in an attempt to cover up his laughter. "Arthur will have one too."

Mordred nodded, "I'll go get those and come back when you've ordered." Morgana smiled at him and Merlin and Arthur burst into hysterics.

"I've never heard anyone whose voice has broken that badly before!" Merlin managed to choke out in between laughs after Mordred was out of earshot.

"Shut up you two, that's just mean, and Arthur, you were nearly as bad." His mouth dropped open.

"I was NOT that bad Morgana!" Merlin laughed harder as Arthur folded his arms.

"You can laugh Merlin; you sounded like someone standing on a mouse!" Gwen giggled, causing Merlin to blush.

"Shut up Gwen. I didn't!" Morgana laughed as both boys went into a sulk.

"Urm, here you go, are you ready to order?" Mordred put down the drinks with a particularly squeaky 'ready', causing both Merlin and Arthur to snort.

Morgana kicked Arthur under the table."Yes thank you, I'll have the lasagne."

"Steak and chips please, rare." Arthur managed to keep a straight face, only wincing slightly.

"Urm, I'll have the Caesar salad please." Gwen smiled sweetly at the teen, causing him to blush as he scribbled down the order.

"Can I have the Ravioli please?" Mordred nodded, taking all of the menus and walking off.

"I think he liked you Gwen." Merlin winked at Gwen who gave a very concerned look.

"No thanks! I'll stick with Lance." Both giggled whilst Morgana glared at Arthur.

"What! I wasn't the only one laughing!"

"Yes but you should know better!" Arthur laughed.

"You sound like father!" Morgana stopped abruptly and covered her mouth with both hands, eyes wide.

"Don't say that!" She muffled, still covering her mouth. Arthur laughed harder.

"Yes father." She kicked him again, before turning to Merlin.

"I don't see how you like him." Merlin blushed furiously and took a gulp of his coke, not knowing how to respond. Arthur glared at her.

"So, Arthur, Merlin tells me you like to write." Gwen tried to fill in the silence as Merlin kept his head down, staring at the table.

"Yeah, I've always loved writing; I want to become an Author." Gwen smiled.

"That's nice! I can't write for toffee. I don't know what I want to be. You know, if you wrote children's books, Merlin could illustrate them! He's amazing at drawing, although he wants to be a doctor, so that might not work, but It would be cool!" Gwen babbled.

"Gwen." Merlin looked up.

"Sorry, I keep babbling, I babble all the time I can't help it, it's a habit, and sometimes if no one stops me I can go on for hours chatting not realising no one is responding and sometimes-"

"Gwen!" Merlin shouted, laughing, Morgana and Arthur joining in.

"Whoops."

"It's okay Gwen," Arthur smiled reassuringly, "Most of Morgana's habits are worse." He chuckled as she glared at him.

"Do you want to die?" Merlin laughed at the serious expression across her face whilst Gwen giggled nervously.

"Urm, here you go." Mordred arrived, placing everybody's meals down in front of them. "Enjoy your meal." He turned to walk away.

"Enjoy puberty!" Arthur called after him, causing Merlin to choke on the forkful of food he had shoved in.

"Arthur!" But even Morgana was giggling now.

"Sorry, that was a tad harsh." Arthur said with a completely straight face, only laughing again when Merlin doubled up in hysterics.

"Sorry that's just funny!" Merlin calmed himself down enough to be able to eat his dinner without choking, and devoured a mouthful of Ravioli. "Wow this is good!"

Everyone nodded in agreement as they each tucked in to their own meals.


	8. You told him what?

Last Chapter was dedicated to RedPanda14 due to heatstroke of the bad variety and being 'special'

* * *

Chapter Eight

"You _love _him, you want to _kiss_ him!"

"Shut up Morgana!" He glared at her but she carried on grinning anyway. She had been teasing her brother from the moment Merlin and Gwen had waved goodbye.

"Just because you like him!" She giggled, walking into the kitchen behind Arthur to get herself a drink.

"Who do you like?" They both turned around to see Uther standing in the doorway, arms crossed and one eyebrow raised.

"Urm, I have to go wax my... face." Morgana grabbed an apple out of the fruit bowl and tiptoed around Uther, running up the stairs.

"No one father. Morgana was just being stupid." Uther nodded and walked further into the kitchen, unfolding his arms.

"Arthur, I wanted to apologise for yesterday. I didn't mean to hit you." He placed an awkward but reassuring hand on his son's shoulder.

"I understand father." Uther nodded once, before turning around and walking briskly into the hallway, leaving Arthur alone in the kitchen.

* * *

_Ihatemylife: Hey_

_Prince: Hi_

_Ihatemylife: Are you okay?_

_Prince: Yes_

_Ihatemylife: Good. Gwen told me to say thank you again for today._

_Prince: Tell her no problem._

_Ihatemylife: And thanks from me too._

_Prince: It's fine. I had fun._

_Ihatemylife: Me too. The panto was great. _Merlin smiled, hoping Arthur would think he was talking about the performance.

_Prince: How would you know? You were asleep the whole time! _Merlin laughed, for that wasn't exactly true.

_Ihatemylife: Yeah, but the bits I saw were good!_

_Prince: Meh, I thought Aladdin was a bit of a wimp to be honest._

_Ihatemylife: Really? I like Aladdin! _

_Prince: I'm sure you do. It was good finally meeting you and Gwen by the way._

_Ihatemylife: Were we what you expected?_

_Prince: I'm not sure what I was expecting._

_Ihatemylife: Really? You're not what I was expecting._

_Prince: Oh, what were you expecting?_

_Ihatemylife: A snobby Prat!_

_Prince: Oh well that's nice, thanks!_

_Ihatemylife: I said you're NOT what I expected. You're quite nice really._

_Prince: Haha thanks._

_Ihatemylife: No problem._

_Prince: Hold on Morgana is trying to take the  
Prince: Hi Merlin, its Morgana. Arthur really likes you but doesn't ion;;;;;;;;;;; vndb cxskk HE'S TRYING TO TAKE IT BACK! HE LIKES YOU; DSLJJJ, BGAKLUTIGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGSKJE_

Merlin stared at his screen as messages with a collection of random letters appeared.

_Prince: Okay it's me again, I've thrown Morgana out._

_Ihatemylife: Right, okay..._

_Prince: She was lying, she didn't mean it._

_Ihatemylife: I didn't think she did_

_Prince: Okay._

_Ihatemylife: Although I couldn't really make out what it was she was actually trying to say..._

_Prince: Well that's fine then._

_Ihatemylife: Right._

"Merlin, turn that damn laptop off and get to sleep! Its half twelve!" Merlin glanced over at the clock on his bedside table, his mother was right.

"Yes mum!"

_Ihatemylife: Sorry I have to go to sleep, seeing as it's half 12._

_Prince: Really? Oh yeah. Then what the hell was Morgana doing in here?_

_Ihatemylife: I really have no idea. Night x_

Merlin's eyes widened. He hadn't meant to put a kiss at the end.

"Please take it as a friendship thing!" Merlin bit his lip as he waited for the reply.

_Prince: Goodnight x_

* * *

'What did that kiss mean?' Arthur knew he was probably reading too much into it, but he couldn't sleep as the same question was replaying over and over again in his head.

"It was probably a friendship kiss." He told himself out loud. "Definitely a friendship kiss." He mumbled into his pillow before allowing his eyes to droop closed.

* * *

"Been talking to Arthur again?" Gwen winked as Merlin opened the door to her, a huge grin on his face.

"Maybe, but that's not why I'm grinning!" He received a puzzled look of Gwen. "It's Christmas soon!"

"Oh yeah! I forgot!" Merlin's mouth dropped open.

"How did you forget about Christmas?!" Gwen shrugged.

"I've been talking to Morgana; she gave me her email address. Apparently Arthur is head over heels for you."

"Yeah right!" Merlin snorted, before frowning. "Wait, what did you tell her about me?"

Gwen simply winked and pushed her way past him into the house.

"Morning Mrs Emrys!" Hunith came out of the kitchen wiping her hands onto a red and white chequered tea-towel.

"Good Morning Gwen, and please call me Hunith." Gwen laughed and nodded.

"Guinevere!" She turned around, surprised that Merlin of all people was calling her by her full name. "What. Did. You. Say. To. Her?"

"I'll leave you to it." Hunith took one look at Merlin's glare before retreating back into the kitchen.

"Just that you like Arthur." She smiled, "_Like_ like him!"

"Gwen!"

"Oh relax, it's fine, he won't believe her anyway." She shrugged.

"He will!"

"Morgana said Arthur likes you!"

"He does not!"

"You see!" Merlin opened his mouth to reply, before closing it again. He didn't know how to respond to that. "Just let it roll, see what happens." He raised an eyebrow at his insane friend as she slumped onto the sofa and picked up the remote. "Turn the TV on will you?"

* * *

"Morgana, why were you in my room at half twelve last night?" Morgana furrowed her brow.

"It was half twelve? Whoops, oh well, I thought it was necessary for Merlin to know your feelings."

"And coming into my room in the middle of the night and stealing my laptop would help that how?" Morgana sighed.

"If Merlin knows that you like him then he might admit to his feelings, and then you could get together and everything would be nice and sweet and cute." Morgana screwed her face up and awed to herself.

Arthur shook his head. "He doesn't like me like that Morgana."

"Gwen said he did."

"She lies."

"Arthur!"

"What?!" She hit him across the back of his head. "You're violent!"

"Don't be mean about Gwen!"

"Now it sounds like you fancy Gwen!" Arthur laughed; the flush crept up Morgana's neck as she scowled.

"Don't be stupid. She likes Lance; she's straight, as am I." Arthur's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline. "I am!"

"You like Gwen don't you!"

"Don't change the subject Arthur Pendragon. We were talking about YOUR feelings here!" Arthur's eyes widened and mouth dropped open.

"Oh my god! You like Gwen! You like Gwe-en, you like Gwe-en" He began chanting, laughing and pointing at Morgana, who was gradually getting more and more agitated.

"Arthur you shut up right now or I shall tell Uther you have slept with Merlin!" Arthur welded his mouth shut.

"You wouldn't." Morgana narrowed her eyes.

"Wouldn't I?" Arthur stared at her for a second before coming to the conclusion that she definitely would. "Now Arthur, you need to tell Merlin how you feel."

"But-"

"Don't!" She put a finger in the air to silence him. "You need to do it, or you'll regret it."

"But I barely know him."

"So? You like him, get to know him better." She winked at him.

"I'll tell you what, I'll tell Merlin," Morgana nodded, "If you tell Gwen."

"What! That's not fair! Merlin likes you and he's gay! Gwen likes Lance and is straight!"

"So you _do_ like her?"

"I... Urm..." Morgana bit her lip before covering her face with her hands. "Oh my god I like Gwen!"

Arthur put his arm around her shoulders reassuringly. "It's alright; I won't force you into anything because I'm not mean." She elbowed him in the ribs.

"I'm not mean!"

"You just elbowed me in the ribs." Morgana opened her mouth to argue but Arthur covered it with his hand.

"I'll tell Merlin when I want to. Okay?" She nodded. "Now please let me do it my own way."


	9. Doctor Who

Did you watch Doctor Who???

* * *

Chapter Nine

_Ihatemylife: Oh so he's the Emperor from star wars AND superman now! _Merlin shook his head as John Simms flew into the air on the screen, shooting blue lightning bolts out of the palms of his hands.

_Prince: Apparently so. _

Christmas had been great for Merlin; he had eaten his own weight in food, he'd seen all his family, he had got an I-pod touch (His mum had got a huge hug and a kiss for that one), and now he was settled down in front of the TV watching the Doctor Who special.

_Ihatemylife: I cannot believe they're going to replace David Tennant with Matt Smith! It's an abomination!_

_Prince: Haha, I'm sure it'll be fine; you'll warm up to him_

_Ihatemylife: No I won't! He's taking over David Tennant for Christ's sake!_

_Prince: Okay you do have a point there. So what did you get for Christmas?_

_Ihatemylife: I-pod touch!! *I love my mum!*, Books, CD's, chocolate, new sketch pad, more chocolate... you know, the usual. How about you?_

_Prince: I got an I-phone. Well a new one as I broke my old one... I also got a load of DVD's and CD's, New TV for my room, oh yeah and a stereo for my car, did you notice the last one was a bit fuzzy? I got some clothes and about £200. I didn't get any chocolate though, I'm quite health conscious._

Merlin stared at the screen in front of him, eyes wide, ignoring the man on the TV who looked amazingly like Friar Tuck from Robin Hood.

_Ihatemylife: Wow, that sounds... nice._

_Prince: Yeah. What the hell! They look like Cacti! _Merlin frowned at the laptop screen for a moment, wondering whether Arthur had just called him a cactus, before realising he must have meant someone on Doctor Who.

"Blimey they do look like Cacti!" His Mother turned to face him, giving him a strange look, before turning her attention back to the TV. Merlin blushed and decided to keep _his _attention on the laptop.

* * *

Arthur didn't usually watch Doctor Who, but Merlin was watching it so it felt necessary.

He hadn't decided how to tell Merlin that he liked him yet, but he knew he had to do it soon else he would you insane.

"Come on Arthur, you can do it." He murmured to himself, glad that he had gotten a new TV for his room; else he would have to talk to Merlin downstairs in the sitting room, with Morgana... and Uther!

He shuddered at the thought before looking back down at his laptop, surprised at the response he got.

_Ihatemylife: Have you ever been to Warwick? _That was random.

_Prince: No, never. I didn't even know it existed before you mentioned it._

_Ihatemylife: You should- _Arthur waited for Merlin to finish his sentence.

_Prince: I should what?_

_Ihatemylife: You should come and see the castle._

_Prince: Is it nice?_

_Ihatemylife: Yeah it's great, they're doing a medieval thing soon. Gwen and I were going to go anyway._

Arthur smiled, Morgana would like that.

_Prince: When's it on?_

_Ihatemylife: Well, seeing as it's the holidays it's on most days, but we were going to go on Monday._

_Prince: Hold on I'll just go and ask Morgana._

"Morgana!"

"What!"

"Do you want-" Arthur froze, remembering Uther was about the same distance away from him and would be able to hear the whole conversation. "Do you want to come here for a minute?"

"No!"

"Morgana!" He heard the sound of footsteps stomping up the stairs and chuckled, Morgana certainly knew how to throw a hissy fit, even at Christmas.

"What do you want?" She threw his door open and stood in the doorway, arms crossed.

"Oh, well you'll never get Gwen to like you if you act like that." She glared at him and turned to leave. "I was kidding! We've been invited to Warwick to see the castle, with Merlin and _Gwen. _Would you like to go?" There was silence for a moment, before Morgana turned to face him again, walking into his room and closing the door softly behind her.

"When?"

"This Monday." Morgana nodded, looking over her calendar in her mind, she had an amazing memory for dates.

"Monday should be fine." She turned to leave again, before looking briefly over her shoulder. "Will you tell him then?"

Arthur sighed, "I really don't know Morgana."

"You have to tell him soon."

"I know!" He dropped his head into his hands. "Morgana drop it, seriously." She nodded and left his room, closing the door behind her.

_Prince: We can come._

_Ihatemylife: Great, I'll tell Gwen, she'll be pleased to see Morgana again, she's really taken a shine to her._

Arthur grinned.

* * *

"Hey Gwen"

"MERRY CHRISTMAS MERLIN!" Merlin winced away from the phone. Gwen had a nasty habit of yelling at him down the phone.

"Gwen, you really don't need to shout at me."

"Sorry, I keep doing that. What did you ring for?"

"You know we're going to Warwick castle on Monday?"

"Oh yeah about that, I was going to ask Morgana whether she and Arthur wanted to come, because I know you like Arthur and I really like talking to Morgana, she's pretty cool." Merlin chuckled.

"No need, I just asked Arthur and he just said they could both come!"

"Oh, well great! Did you watch Doctor Who?" Merlin looked at the TV, only just noticing that the programme had finished.

"Kind of... I'm going to go now Gwen, have a good Christmas!"

"You too!" Merlin put the phone back on the cradle and looked back to his laptop.

* * *

**Just a short one this time, as its Christmas.**

**Will Arthur express his feelings when visiting Warwick Castle? *which is real btw, and really nice, look it up!***

**You'll have to wait and see! :D *until tomorrow anyway...***


	10. Monday

**Sorry I didn't update yesterday! My mum confiscated my laptop for being too anti-social... :S**

**But it's okay because I don't have any family over today!**

* * *

Chapter Ten  
_Monday_

"Have you got everything?" Merlin glanced down at the near empty rucksack he had laid open on the kitchen side. It contained a spare jumper, his wallet and a little torch thing he didn't remember putting in.

"Urm..." Gwen peered inside and sighed.

"You weren't listening were you?" Merlin shook his head. "I said we were going to take a picnic! Because the food at Warwick Castle is so bloody expensive!" She pulled a loaf of bread out of the bread bin and threw it at Merlin, making her way over to the fridge to get out the butter. "Get out a knife and start buttering." She threw the tub at him and began raiding the cupboard for crisps and chocolate.

* * *

"Do you think I should wear a t-shirt or a shirt, because the shirt might be too formal, but it also makes me look sophisticated?" Arthur stood in front of his wardrobe, doors flung open, and was searching through all of his clothes.

"A T-shirt." Morgana was sitting on his bed with his laptop in her lap, using Photoshop to merge two images of the boys together and grinning at the result.

"Okay," he pulled out four different shirts, all different colours, "What colour?" Morgana looked up and scanned the tops, weighing out the different options.

"Blue." She said definitely, "It will enhance your eyes and it goes with blonde.

Arthur pulled the blue shirt over his head roughly, flattening down his hair before looking in the mirror and inspecting his reflection. Morgana was right, the blue did enhance his eyes, and it did go with his hair. He turned to the side and flattened down the t-shirt onto his stomach, feeling the muscles underneath made him smile. He hadn't always been in such good shape, when he was younger Arthur had been quite a... large child. So nowadays he eats a balanced, healthy diet and uses the gym equipment they keep in one of the spare rooms every day. He was happy with the way the t-shirt hugged his figure, showing off his hard work.

"Which jeans?" Morgana looked up again to see what she had to work with.

"Well, not the skinny jeans, you wore them last time you saw Merlin." Arthur looked at them before throwing them back into the drawer he had just pulled them out from.  
Morgana tilted her head, staring intently at the two pairs of jeans left, "The darker ones" She looked away as Arthur pulled them on.

"Thanks Morgana."

"No problem, you'd do the same for me," He smiled, "Actually, if you wouldn't mind doing the same thing for me now I'd be very grateful." Arthur sighed, but nodded, traipsing after Morgana out of his bedroom.

* * *

"Sandwiches?"

"Check."

"Crisps and chocolate bars?"

"Check."

"Fruit and salad stuff."

"Check."

"Picnic blanket and paper plates." Merlin moved all of the food out of the way, searching for the blanket.

"Nope, hold on." He ran out of the kitchen and into the cupboard under the stairs. After pulling out the Hoover, the fold up decorating table, a huge pile of coats, a cardboard box they usually kept the Christmas decorations in, a pile of dusty books and a lunchbox someone had left in there to go mouldy, Merlin finally found the picnic blanket folded up into a small plastic bag.

"Merlin! What's going on?" He turned around to see Hunith staring at all of the random objects he had pulled out and dumped behind him in search for the blanket.

"I needed the picnic blanket." Merlin held it up meekly before pushing the whole lot back in the cupboard, leaning against the door to keep them all in. Hunith raised her eyebrows at him. "I'll tidy it up later, but we need to go."

"I'll hold you to that!" Hunith grinned as Merlin ran into the kitchen holding the blanket; she had been meaning to clear out that cupboard for months!

* * *

"Do you know what we're doing for lunch?" Arthur started up his car, switching on his new stereo.

"Gwen said they were going to bring a picnic as all the food was really expensive." Arthur nodded and put his new Keane CD into the slot, turning up the volume.

"What time did they say?"

Morgana opened her mouth to answer before frowning. "I don't remember. Hold on, I'll just call her, turn that off for a second." Arthur turned down the CD, refusing to turn it off completely as Morgana typed Gwen's number into her mobile.

"Hey Gwen, I just called to ask what time you'll be there." Arthur watched as Morgana nodded to the soft mumbles coming from the phone in her hand.

"Okay Gwen, We'll see you there." She looked at Arthur and raised her eyebrows. "How long will it take to get there?" Arthur looked at the sat-nav.

"About two hours." Morgana looked at the clock.

"Yeah we need to go now, it's ten and they'll be there at half twelve." Arthur nodded and started out of the drive.

* * *

"Half twelve? We don't need to leave for another hour and a half!" Merlin frowned at Gwen when she hung up.

"Well I need to get ready and you need to come with me! I got a new dress yesterday for Christmas of my Nan, it's really nice and I'm going to wear it, I need to do my hair and my make-up and everything... what?" She furrowed her brow at Merlin's amused expression.

"Oh nothing... Who are you dressing up for? Not trying to steal Arthur are you?" Gwen laughed.

"Definitely not!"

"I know I'm joking, Lance is working there today, which is why you're dressing up, I was just kidding."

"Yeah, Lance." Merlin frowned as Gwen walked past him, "I'll just go and get your bag then we can go to my house." She disappeared into the kitchen leaving Merlin standing by the door, confused and worried for his friend.

* * *

Arthur chuckled as he pulled into the nearest empty space and looked over at his snoring sister. She never could spend more than an hour in the car without falling asleep.

"Morgana we're here." Her eyes flickered open sleepily, squinting in the unwelcomed sunlight streaming through the windscreen.

"Five more minutes." Arthur laughed, getting out his phone.

"Hi, we're here, where are you?"

"We're just in the car; Gwen took FOREVER to get ready! Ow! You did!" Arthur smiled as he listened to Gwen and Merlin bickering.

"It's okay, how long will you be approximately?"

"About five minutes, can you wait by the gates for us?"

"No problem, see you in a bit." Arthur snapped his phone shut and shook Morgana. "If you don't get up now I'll lock you in and you won't see Gwen."

"Fine I'm up, leave me alone." Morgana rubbed her eyes and opened the door, putting her foot down just in time to stop herself from falling out of the car.

"They're still in the car; I said we'd meet them by the gates." Morgana looked around as Arthur locked the car.

"What gates."

"I have no idea." Arthur looked up at the large castle in front of them. "It's pretty though, I'm sure the gates aren't that hard to find.  
........................................................................................................................................................................

"He said they were here?" Gwen looked at her watch. Merlin nodded. "Well then where are they?"

"I have no idea." He looked up at the gates behind him.

"Oh there they are! Hi Morgana!" She waved manically at the two figures walking towards them.

"We're so sorry, we couldn't find the gates!" Arthur apologised.

"It's fine, let's go! I want to go in the dungeons!" Gwen grinned, grabbing Morgana's hand and running inside, showing the security guard her pass.

"What's in the dungeons?"

"They're supposed to be haunted. There used to be a ghost tower but they remodelled it into a _Princess Tower_." Merlin said, disgusted. Arthur raised his eyebrows. "Exactly, I have a pass, let's go catch up with them else we will never find them."

Arthur watched as Merlin showed the 'guard' his pass and followed him inside the gate, wondering how to express his feelings to the dark haired boy in front of him.

* * *

**Arthur's feelings next chapter! Watch this space. **


	11. Sword Fights

Chapter Eleven

"Merlin, I-"

"Hold on Arthur, Gwen! Are you in there?!" Merlin yelled down the bars off the dungeon.

"Yeah Merlin we're here, go and do something else!" Merlin raised his eyebrows, did Gwen just tell him to leave?

"What else is there to do?" He turned to face Arthur, blond hair glistening in the sun, eyes squinting; juxtaposing the thick coat and scarf he was wearing to protect him from the cold.

"Urm," They both jumped as a blood curdling scream rippled through the bars of the Dungeon door. "Hold on, I think there's a medieval sword fight thing going on over there." Both boys turned to face the crowd gathering on the field based by the front gate.

"Let's go see shall we." Arthur walked slightly in front, pushing past the crowd. Merlin weaved behind him, watching his footsteps until he bumped into the back of the muscled shoulders of the blond who had stopped at the fence.

"What's happening?"

"Some random dude in a dress is talking about swords and whatnot." Merlin snorted and looked over to the long haired dork in a tunic and chainmail, swinging a sword around as if he was a real knight. Arthur scoffed, "Even I could do that."

"Really?" Merlin looked over again; sure he was a dork swinging a sword around, but Merlin could barely swing a stick around without smacking himself in the face. "I couldn't, it's pretty impressive if you ask me."

"I did fencing for six years, that is not impressive, that is a man in a dress, wobbling a sword around limply." Merlin laughed.

"You should go up there and show them how it's done."

"I would but I doubt they'd be very happy about it." Arthur looked back at Merlin over his shoulder, "Come here." He pulled his arm so they were standing next to each other, leaning over the fence to get a better view of Sir Pratalot. Merlin felt his cheeks going red at the contact.

"Can we have a volunteer please?" Sir Pratalot was addressing the audience.

"Oh you should do it!"

"Oh no I don't think-"

"Arthur will do it!" Merlin pulled Arthur's hand up, raising his arm in the air.

"Okay Arthur, come a grab a sword." Arthur jumped over the fence and faced a grinning Merlin.

"I hate you."

"You love me really!" He bit his lip but Arthur didn't seem to notice.

The handsome youth threw off his coat and picked up a sword swinging it round casually from his wrist. Merlin laughed at the number of sighs he received from women in the audience.

"Have you handled a sword before?" The 'knight' picked up his own sword hesitantly.

"A little." He turned to look at Merlin who was grinning and clapping. "So what are we doing?"

"I was going to teach you some moves." Arthur laughed.

"I don't need any moves," He swung the sword once more. "Shall we just try a fight?"

Merlin could have sworn he saw Sir Pratalot gulp. "If you want."

Arthur swung his sword at the 'knight' who blocked it easily before taking his own swing. Arthur was too fast for him, ducking and dodging away from all of the swings, his own neat attacks barely saved by the petrified 'professional'.

"Is that all you've got!" Arthur swung his sword once more, knocking the sword out of Sir Pratalot's hand, thrusting his own sword under Sir Pratalot's chin. "Do you _yield?_" He mocked, grinning as the crowd cheered. The 'knight' pushed the sword away angrily.

"You can go back now." He growled. Arthur chuckled, picked up his coat and bowed to the audience before jumping back over the fence next to Merlin.

"Wow! That was amazing!" Merlin stared up at him in awe.

"What did you expect?" He grabbed Merlin's hand and pulled him out of the crowd towards the castle itself. "Let's go up here." He pointed at the crumbled stairway, leading up to the top of the castle to the lookout, still holding onto Merlin's hand.

"If you want." Merlin stared at his hand being clasped by Arthur's, grinning.

"Yeah I want to tell you something." Merlin looked up at the back of his head and gulped. "What's up here anyway?"

"Just a lookout tower I think." Arthur nodded and dragged the brunette up the stairs, holding onto his hand for dear life.

They ran up stair after stair and managed to end up on an empty ledge, looking out over the castle courtyard. Panting, Merlin leant over the ledge and let go of Arthur's hand, holding onto his burning chest. Arthur paced up and down the stone walkway, hands clasped, thinking.

"Okay, I'm fine, I'm still alive." Merlin panted and turned to face Arthur, one hand on the ledge, the other running through his hair.

"Merlin, there's something I've been meaning to tell you, I just don't really know how." Arthur looked at his feet. "It's not something I have to say very often."

"What is it Arthur?" Merlin took a step towards him, brow tight with worry.

"Merlin I really like you. Like not just in a, you know... I just really, I... Argh!" He pulled at his hair and turned away from Merlin, unable to find any words. "I don't know what to say. I can't put what I feel into words." Merlin shook his head in confusion.

"I don't understand."

"I really like you Merlin, and if you don't feel the same way that's fine, I understand, we haven't known each other long and its different and I'm not exactly a 'great catch' but I mean it's not that bad is it? I just feel completely-" He was cut off by Merlin's mouth covering his own, his eyes open in surprise as the raven-haired youth pulled away slowly.

"Sorry, but you needed to shut up." Arthur grinned and pulled Merlin towards him, pressing their lips together with as much pressure as he could summon, curling his hand around the back of Merlin's head. Merlin's own hands curled around Arthur's waist.

"Eww! Mummy why are they kissing?!" Arthur and Merlin pulled apart quickly to see a disgusted child, no older than eight, staring at them.

"We weren't, we were... fighting." Arthur turned to stare at Merlin in disbelief.

"Fighting?" He hissed under his breath. Merlin shrugged.

"What else was I going to say?" They both turned back to face the child who was still staring at them, waiting for an answer.

"We are going to go now. Don't do drugs." Arthur grabbed Merlin's arms and they ran back down the stairs.

"Don't do drugs!" Merlin laughed as they got to the bottom of the stairs. Arthur grinned and pulled Merlin towards him again, catching his mouth in a tender kiss.

"About time!" They turned towards Morgana and Gwen who grinning at them so wide Merlin worried they might strain a muscle in their cheeks.

"I told you I would tell him Morgana." She squirmed away from Arthur's patronising expression.

"I knew you would." Merlin smiled sheepishly at Gwen.

"Have you seen Lance yet?" Morgana's face dropped noticeably, which intrigued Merlin.

"No, and I don't really want to."

"What! You've been going on about liking him for months!"

"Merlin, I don't want to talk about me right now, let's talk about you." She grinned as Merlin flushed, walking back towards Arthur who put an arm round his shoulder.

"Gwen! I didn't expect to see you here!" They turned around to see a tanned youth sprinting towards them, grinning.

"Hello Merlin, nice to see you." Merlin nodded before turning his attention to the ground which had suddenly become rather interesting.

"Lance, I need to talk to you." Gwen took his arm and walked away, leaving Morgana scowling after him.

"I'm assuming that's the infamous Lancelot." Arthur raised an eyebrow at Merlin who nodded.

"Let's go to the dungeons now. Morgana would you like to wait for Gwen?" She nodded and the boys walked towards the dungeons hand in hand, glancing over to where a very angry Lancelot was pacing in front of a sad looking Gwen.

* * *

**Ta-dah!**

**But there is still more to come :D**


	12. He deserved it!

Chapter Twelve

"I don't understand." Merlin shook his head as they entered into the darkness of the dungeons. "I thought Gwen really liked Lance. I mean I know he can be a bit much sometimes, but I don't know where this has come from."

"Mmm" Arthur hummed in agreement, looking around. "Is this supposed to be scary?"

"Boo!" A man dressed completely in white leapt out from behind the door directly in front of Merlin's face.

"Jesus Christ!" He yelped, grabbing onto Arthur's shirt.

"Not quite." The actor popped out again, grinned and hid behind the door again, waiting for his next victim.

"Oh my god!" Merlin let out a deep sigh and Arthur chuckled.

"If that scared you I dread to think what could come next!" Merlin rested his head on Arthurs shoulder, hiding his nose in the fabric as they walked towards a statue surrounded by all of the other people in the dungeon.

"What are they staring at?" He turned to face the statue, a man standing stock still, eyes closed and arm raised in the air, saluting.

"I-" The statue shouted, opening his eyes sharply and turning to face Merlin, who yelped and burrowed his head into Arthur's armpit. "-Am back from the dead to seek my revenge on he who killed me. He was an evil man and did evil business." Merlin felt a cold wind on his back and began to shiver, clutching onto Arthur tighter. Arthur wrapped his arms around Merlin's shoulders.

"On your journey throughout the dungeon you will witness all of our encounters, and much more, including many of the prisoners that have been sent to their peril in this very dungeon! And I can tell you, they're not very happy about it!" He laughed manically as the guide led the group through a door. Merlin walked slowly, breathing heavily and still holding onto Arthur.

* * *

"I don't care what you say, that bloody, headless THING in there was scary!" Merlin wiped the tears from his eyes as soon as they were outside the dungeon. Arthur pulled him in close, allowing him to breathe in his scent.

"Merlin, you were _crying _with fear. It was not that scary." Merlin stayed silent with his head buried into Arthur's chest. "Are you okay?" He nodded. "Good, we should find Morgana and Gwen."

Merlin pulled apart from Arthur to put an arm around his waist and walk towards where they had last seen the two girls. Arthur draped his arm around Merlin's shoulders and placed a kiss on top of his head.

"I'm assuming you don't want me telling either of them you screamed like a girl when a 'mystical hand of doom' came leaping out of nowhere in front of your face." Merlin blushed.

"I didn't expect it!" Arthur chuckled, before frowning at the limping youth, hobbling across the lawn, turning to look back at a glaring Morgana over his shoulder.

"Morgana! What did you do to Lancelot?!"

"Kicked him in the balls, AND HE DESERVED IT THE BASTARD!" She screamed at the crippled teen.

"Morgana!"

"He hit Gwen!" She protested, throwing her arms around the shaking girl to her right.

"What?" Merlin let go of Arthur and ran to Gwen, examining her face to see a red mark across her cheek. "Why?"

"I told him I didn't want to be with him."

"And he hit you for that?"

"No, he asked me why, and I said I didn't like him in that way, I thought I did, but not anymore." Morgana squeezed her shoulders reassuringly. "Then he began pacing and getting angry, telling me that I was obviously just a slut then as I have been flirting with him and 'everyone else in the entire school'. Then I told him at least I haven't slept with the whole of my physics class." She looked at Merlin, biting her lip, "Then he hit me." Merlin turned around to glare at Lancelot, who was shouting at another member of staff.

"And then Morgana kicked him. And he cried!" She smiled at Morgana, who pulled her tighter into a hug.

"He was a bastard." Gwen rested her head on Morgana's shoulder. Arthur smiled.

"Man that guy has problems!" Merlin was staring at him, not so much in anger any more, more like shock.

"Come on lets go, I think we've had enough fun for the time being." Arthur chuckled and walked back over to Merlin, holding his hand.

"You don't say!" Morgana and Gwen walked in front of the boys, Morgana's arm wrapped protectively around Gwen's shoulders as they passed Lancelot, hissing at him.

"You're lucky I wasn't there mate else you would have had more than just a kick in the balls." Arthur glared at him threateningly. Lancelot backed away towards the wall.

"Come on he's not worth it." Merlin tugged at Arthur's hand, pulling them both out of the castle and into the car park.

"Where did we park Arthur?"

"Urm," He scratched his head and looked around the heaving car park. "I really don't know. I couldn't even find the gates remember." Merlin chuckled.

"I can't believe you couldn't find the gate."

"I can't believe you screamed like a girl when-" The rest of his sentence was lost as Merlin thrust his hand over his mouth.

"Be quiet!" Both girls turned to raise an eyebrow at him. "Don't ask."

"Oh I remember! We parked next to that tree!" Arthur laughed.

"That tree? How is that supposed to help?"

"I know what I mean! Come on Gwen!" She grabbed her friends arm and ran towards where she hoped the car was.

"No wait, Gwen has to go with Merlin else he'll be on his own, we took two cars remember." Morgana stopped in her tracks.

"Give me the keys."

"What!"

"I'll go with Gwen in our car, and you go with Merlin, now give me the keys." Arthur reluctantly handed over the car keys to his sister, who skipped off with Gwen.

"I'm parked over here." Merlin began walking in the opposite direction. "But don't expect a £60,000 car."

"Don't worry I'm not!" Arthur put his arm back around Merlin's shoulders and walked with him.

"What are we going to do about Gwen and Morgana?"

* * *

**I'm not sure Arthur, what are you going to do about Gwen and Morgana?  
:P**


	13. We tell each other everything!

Chapter Thirteen

"What do you mean?"

"They obviously like each other." Merlin stopped beside an old ford. "Is this your car?" Arthur raised his eyebrows with disgust; he wasn't expecting much but honestly! Merlin nodded and unlocked it, tugging at the door to open it.

"Damn it's jammed again." He put his foot against the back door and grasped the front door's handle with both hands, pulling with all his might. Arthur stood behind him chuckling.

"Would you like me to have a go?"

"No, no, I've got it." Merlin hissed though his teeth before the door swung open, knocking the lanky youth to the ground.

"Are you okay?" Arthur ran over to help Merlin off the tarmac.

"Yeah lousy piece of crap," Merlin kicked the bottom of the car before sliding into the driver's seat. "Your door should be fine." Arthur nodded and walked around to the other side of the car, pulling the door open with ease.

"So what were you saying about Morgana and Gwen?" Merlin turned his key in the ignition and began to back out of the parking space.

"Oh yeah, that they like each other." Merlin laughed.

"Well of course they like each other, they've become like, best friends." Merlin turned out of the car park and onto the road. "Hold on, where are we going?" Arthur frowned before pulling his phone out of his coat pocket.

"I'll call Morgana."

"She's driving your car."

"I'll call Guinevere."

"I think that's best." Merlin laughed as he pulled into the nearest lay-by on the side of the road.

"Gwen, it's me, can you ask Morgana where she was going to go because we're not sure... Our house... Ask her about father... she said what! Tell her I don't have... oh, oh okay... your house... right... okay we'll see you there." Arthur snapped his phone shut.

"Gwen's house then?" Arthur nodded and Merlin re-started the car. "It's only ten minutes or so away, we'll be there in no time."

"No we'll be there in about ten minutes." Merlin chuckled. "About Gwen, has she said anything about Morgana?" Merlin averted his eyes from the road for a moment to look at Arthur in confusion.

"Am I missing something? What's going on between them?" Merlin turned his attention back to the road.

"I don't know that's why I'm asking."

"Yes but you think there_ could_ be something going on?" Arthur stayed silent for a few seconds, before replying.

"Yes, but I'm not sure as I don't know Gwen and I don't know her... preferences." Merlin laughed.

"Gwen's not gay, I'm sure of it. She's only ever been with guys." Arthur nodded solemnly. "Is Morgana gay?"

"She's bi... I think."

"You think? You don't know your sisters sexual preferences?"

"I thought I did!" Arthur started to get defensive, like usual. "I thought she was straight, but then she started saying she liked Gwen and so I'm assuming-"

"Morgana likes Gwen?" Merlin's attention was once more averted from the road. "Really?"

"Yes now keep your eyes on the road." Merlin's head snapped forward again before continuing.

"Does Gwen know?" Arthur shook his head before remembering Merlin was watching the road, not him, and wouldn't be able to see the gesture.

"No, I don't think so."

"Oh, well Gwen is definitely not gay. Sorry." Arthur frowned at himself for misreading the signs; maybe Gwen just really liked Morgana as a friend.

"It's okay it's just Morgana I feel sorry for." Merlin nodded and took one of his hands off the steering wheel and placed it on Arthur's thigh.

"That same thing happened to me a few years ago, with Will. I really liked him but he only liked me as a friend, he was my best friend and it killed me watching him date all of these pretty girls." Arthur took Merlin's hand into his own. "I got over it though; turns out he was an idiot." Arthur chuckled, stroking the back of Merlin's hand.

"Why was he an idiot?" Merlin sighed and extracted his hand from Arthurs grasp, placing it back on the wheel.

"I never told him I was gay." Arthur looked at his feet, knowing where Merlin was going with this story. "When he found out he didn't speak to me again."

"Never?" Merlin shook his head. "Are all your male friends bastards? First Lancelot, now this Will." Merlin chuckled.

"To be honest, apart from Leon, who is _not_ a bastard, I don't have any other male friends, and Leon doesn't exactly talk to me that much. It's mainly just me and Gwen." Arthur smiled and looked over to where Merlin was sat slouched in the driver's seat.

"You and Gwen are really good friends aren't you?"

"Oh yeah! We do everything together; she's friends with my mum, we have most of our lessons together plus we've known each other since birth practically, we tell each other everything." Merlin smiled at Arthur who smiled back before turning back to the road, eyes widening at what he saw.

"I thought you told each other everything?!" Merlin frowned before looking at what Arthur was watching. Gwen was pressed up against Morgana, leaning on Arthur's car and planting hungry kisses on her neck. Her legs were wrapped around Morgana's waist and her arms were wrapped around her neck.

Merlin reeled back in shock, slowing the car down to a stop.

"We do, I mean, I thought I did, I mean... what?!"

"And you teased me for not being sure of my sister's sexuality."

* * *

**Only a short one but I'll try and make up for it next chapter!**


	14. Tracing Circles

**Sorry this has taken so long. I ran out of inspiration half way through...**

* * *

Chapter Fourteen

"Oh my God." Merlin unbuckled his seatbelt and pulled at the door handle roughly, only to be pulled back into his seat by Arthur.

"Merlin, what are you doing?" He stopped to look at the blonde in the eye.

"I'm upset Gwen didn't tell me, she's my best friend, I'm going to talk to her." Arthur raised his eyebrows at him.

"I think Gwen _might_ be a bit busy at the moment." He gestured towards where Gwen was pressing herself against his half sister.

Merlin nodded and took a deep breath out. "Well what shall I do then?" He turned to face the blond who placed a reassuring hand on his knee.

"Nothing."

"But I can't just not do anything! She has kept some-" The rest of his sentence was lost as Arthur placed a heavy kiss on his mouth with every intention of silencing him. Merlin leaned into the kiss, tugging Arthur's head closer towards him and slouched back into his seat, pulling the blond on top of him. Arthur wrapped his arms around Merlin's neck before being pushed forcefully back into his seat.

"What!" Merlin shook his head and went to push the door open again.

"Stop trying to distract me, I'm angry with Gwen." Arthur leant over and kissed the back of his neck, causing the raven-haired youth to shiver. "Ahh-no! Stop it!"

"Merlin leave her to it."

"But I told _her_ that _I_ was Gay!" Merlin went to leave again but Arthur leant over him and pulled the door shut, using Merlin's thighs to hold himself up.

"I'm sure she had good reason." Arthur placed a soft kiss on Merlin's cheek before returning to his original sitting position, never looking away from him.

"Like what." Merlin turned to face him, biting his lip. "What reason is good enough for her not to tell me?"

Arthur opened his mouth to reply, before closing it again, unable to come up with an explanation. Merlin dropped his head onto the steering wheel. "Maybe she didn't know, maybe _she_ thought she was straight." Merlin turned his head, still resting on the wheel, to face Arthur.

"You really think that she didn't know before now, before this?" He gestured outside again, looking forwards to see that both girls had fallen back into the car; Gwen's leg appeared to be hanging out of the window. "Oh my-" He ran his hands through his hair. "Why would she keep this from me? And then do that!" Arthur looked over to the car; the two girls were completely oblivious to their intruders.

"I don't know, but I think we should go." Merlin didn't respond for a moment, causing Arthur to frown, reaching out and placing a hand on his shoulder. Merlin tilted his head until it was resting on Arthur's hand before nodding.

"Yeah I'll talk to her later. If Morgana's staying here... you live in London... Urm, you know... do you... urm." Merlin wrung his hands together in his lap and bit his lip.

Arthur smiled and pulled one of Merlin's hands into his own. "Merlin, would your mum mind if I stayed over at yours tonight?" He looked over to where two pale hands were scrambling to pull the dark leg out of the window of the car in front of him. "No funny business though, I don't want to end up with _my_ leg hanging out of any windows."

Merlin laughed out loud and leant over to kiss Arthur's cheek. "I'm sure that'll be fine."

* * *

"Arthur! Where the hell are you?!" Arthur held the phone away from his ear as he sat up in Merlin's spare bed, rubbing his eyes.

"I'm sorry for not wanting to interrupt your little... session last night with Gwen."

"I-uh-what?" Arthur sighed.

"We're not stupid Morgana, we saw you, and Merlin's not happy with Gwen... He didn't know she was... that way inclined." He looked over to the snoring boy to his left who had snuck into his room when his mother had gone to bed.

"I don't think she knew either." Morgana chuckled down the phone.

"Where are you now?" Arthur was pretty sure he knew the answer to that question but felt it was probably best to ask anyway.

"I'm at Gwen's"

"Oh really."

"Oh shut up Arthur!" Arthur laughed, causing Merlin to turn over, his eyelids fluttering momentarily, before snoring again. Arthur ruffled up the, admittedly already messy, dark hair.

"So when will you be ready to leave?"

"Depends, when do you want to go? We don't have to go yet do we?" Arthur sunk back down into the large pile of pillows Merlin had brought in with him from his room.

"I'm sure no one will mind." He pulled Merlin towards him, resting his head on his chest.

* * *

"This isn't my room." Merlin lifted his head up slightly to look around, quickly establishing that he was in the spare room and was lying atop of Arthur's chest, which was currently vibrating slightly from a muffled chuckle.

"It's not my room either." He felt Arthur place a soft kiss on top of his hair.

"Morning, how long have you been awake?" Merlin closed his eyes again to block out the light from the window, focusing on the circles Arthur was tracing on his shoulder.

"Since Morgana rang, she wanted to know where I was, She's at Gwen's and-" Merlin shot up off Arthurs chest, causing him to jump, and scrambled over him to grab Arthurs phone.

"Can I use your phone to ring Gwen?"

"Merlin-"

"Can I use your phone to ring Gwen? Yes or no?" Merlin looked at Arthur expectantly, holding the phone up in front of him.

"Okay." Merlin lowered his head onto Arthur's chest again and typed Gwen's number into the phone.

"Hello?"

"Gwen, its Merlin." Merlin curled his hand into a fist, brushing his thumb over his fingers in an attempt to stay calm. The last thing he wanted was to have an argument.

"Oh Merlin, Morgana said Arthur said you said that you were upset." Merlin furrowed his brow.

"What? Gwen you're making no sense. I just need to know why you didn't tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"That you were a _lesbian_ Gwen!" Merlin shouted, lifting his head off Arthur's torso.

"Shhh." Arthur stroked his hair, hushing him until he relaxed his neck and sunk back into his chest.

"I didn't know! I've only ever like guys before Merlin, you know that. It just happened, it was different."

"But you must have known before tonight, you should have told me right away, I had to find out by watching your leg hanging out of a car window!" Arthur continued stroking his hair, only grimacing slightly at the unwelcomed memory.

"Merlin, it was so weird for me. I have never liked a girl before! I was I supposed to know myself let alone tell you!" Merlin heard Gwen sob down the phone.

"Gwen, I'm sorry for getting a bit mad but can you imagine what it was like seeing my best friend getting off with a girl, a very nice girl," He looked at Arthur and smiled, "But a girl none the less. I thought you had been keeping it a secret from me."

"Merlin you idiot! I wouldn't do that!" Merlin smiled into Arthur's chest.

"I know. Sorry."


	15. That Damn Shower!

**I'm really sorry if *that* the quality of this story has reduced as it's gone on, thank you all for reading anyway, I really appreciate it. :D**

* * *

Chapter Fifteen

"Merlin!" Merlin snapped his head up and looked in the direction his mum was calling from, thankfully it sounded like she was downstairs. "Can you go and wake up your friend and tell him breakfast is ready? I don't want to go in!"

Both boys sighed in relief. If his mum found them both in the same bed together... well considering she hadn't met Arthur before yesterday, let's just say it's a good job she didn't!

Merlin opened the door silently and tiptoed across the landing until he was outside his room, in the opposite direction to the spare room.

"Yes mum, no worries!" He ran back over to the spare room and opened the door, casually leaning against it as Arthur sat up in bed, arms folded and one eyebrow raised. "Mum said breakfast is ready."

"Did she indeed?" Both boys kept straight faces as Merlin nodded.

"Yes she did." They looked at each other for about five seconds before a smile tugged at the corner of Merlin's lips. Arthur quickly followed suit, sporting his own grin as he got out of bed. "I'm going to get showered and dressed if that's okay with you."

Merlin frowned and tilted his head to the side, examining the half naked blond in front of him. "Well I prefer you like that, but if you must." He ducked out of the door and closed it softly behind him before strolling back over to his bedroom to get changed, a grin plastered on his face the whole way there.

* * *

Arthur chuckled as he picked up his clothes off the floor and made his way to where Merlin had told him the bathroom was yesterday, stopping briefly to glance in the direction of Merlin's room, smiling at the closed door.

"Urm is anyone in there?" Arthur knocked on the bathroom door tentatively, opening the door slightly at the lack of response before peering inside, double checking. He always felt awkward using other people's bathrooms. After confirming the coast was clear he slipped in and locked the door behind him, dumping his clothes on the floor.

"Well that should be interesting..." He looked over to the battered shower in the corner, extremely different to the power shower he had at home, this was literally just a plastic box attached to the wall with a shower head hanging of it.

"How the hell do I turn it on?" he walked over to the shower and inspected the two dials, one going from blue to red, that would be temperature, and one displaying numbers from one to nine.

"What does that mean?" He experimented turning the dial with the numbers to one... nothing. Two? Again nothing. Aggravated, he twisted the dial around to nine, back to zero and then nine again.

"What the hell!" He twisted the other dial from white to blue and yelped as the shower let out a burst of freezing water onto his head.

"Arthur? Are you okay?" He heard Merlin voice from outside the door as he jumped out of the shower, shaking his soaking head over the towel-mat that was placed out on the floor.

"Mmm-hmm. The shower-" He walked back over to it and quickly twisted the coloured dial to red.

"Oh okay, everyone has trouble with the shower. Do you need me to help you turn it on?"

"No no it's fine, I've got it." Arthur didn't want Merlin thinking he was incapable of turning on a shower.

"Okay if you're sure." Arthur placed his arm hesitantly under the flow of steaming water before pulling away cursing.

"Shit that's boiling!"

"You sure you're okay?" Arthur blushed as he heard the chuckle from outside the door, although the rising heat produced from the shower wasn't helping the warmth creeping up his neck.

"Yes I'm fine, I'll sort it."

"Okay, just call me if you need me." Arthur bent his arm to avoid the flow of water and twisted the dial to the middle-ish section, before snatching his hand back to his side quickly and waited for the temperature to change.

"Oh yeah, Merlin!" Arthur ran over to the door, leaning against it. "Merlin!"

"Yeah?" The voice came from down the hall, suggesting Merlin had been on his way back to his room.

"Where are the towels?" Arthur glanced around the bathroom for a sign of them but came up short.

"Oh they're in the airing cupboard out here, hold on I'll get you one." Arthur listened as Merlin's footsteps continued up the corridor. Running his hands through his hair, he glanced back over to the still running shower, wondering whether it was doing what it was supposed to. "Here you go." Arthur jumped slightly, turning around to face the door. "Urm, you're probably going to have to open the door." He mentally hit himself for being an idiot, before unlocking the door and waving his arm out of the small gap he had left.

* * *

Merlin giggled at the sight of Arthur's arm waving frantically, reaching out for the towel but not wanting to show himself naked. "I've seen it all before you fool!" He laughed and grabbed the hand in his own, kissing his fingers before handing over the towel. "I'll tell mum you're having a shower." He watched as the tanned arm slipped back into the room and the door closed.

* * *

Arthur smiled at his hand as he draped the towel over the radiator and stepped in the shower, forgetting to check the temperature beforehand.

"Shit!"

* * *

"Where's your friend?" Hunith questioned her son as he walked into the kitchen and over to the bread bin.

"Arthur's in the shower." He shoved as many pieces of bread in the toaster as he could and missed the raised eyebrow his mother gave him from behind his back.

"How long have you known _Arthur_?" Merlin shrugged.

"A little while."

"How do you know him?"Merlin bit his lip. He knew his mother didn't approve of meeting people online.

"Well Gwen is friends with Morgana, she's Arthur's half sister." Not a lie.

"Oh well that's nice." Merlin jumped as the toaster popped, like he always did, and grabbed a plate. "You know when I said breakfast is ready, I meant I made some." Merlin pulled the butter out of the fridge and threw it by is plate before reaching for a knife.

"Oh really, what did you make?"

"Porridge." Merlin snorted as he opened the butter.

"Yeah I'm fine with toast thanks!" Hunith hit him lightly on the back of his head as he bit down into the slightly burnt toast, causing him to choke.

"Morning." Both Merlin and Hunith turned around to where Arthur had spoken from the doorway.

"Good Morning Arthur, did you sleep well?" Hunith beamed at the blond and Merlin winked from behind her back before turning back to his toast.

"Yes thank you Ms Emrys."

"Please call me Hunith." She smiled and gestured for him to sit at the table.

"Would you like some porridge?" Arthur's eyes widened at the sight before nodded meekly, not wanting to seem rude. Merlin scoffed and covered it up with a cough. Hunith glared at him before dishing up a bowl and handing it to Arthur. "Here you go love." She smiled and turned around to face the sink, giving Merlin the perfect opportunity to sit down next to Arthur.

"Look's fantastic." Merlin joked, smiling at Arthur's grimace as he placed a spoonful in his mouth.

"Mmm, tastes great Hunith, thank you." She turned briefly to smile at him before turning back to the sink. Arthur shuddered slightly before shovelling the next heaped spoonful into his mouth.

Merlin shook his head and finished off his toast. "Is that your phone?" Arthur turned to face him, listening. Sure enough a faint beeping noise could be heard from upstairs.

"Excuse me." Arthur pushed his chair away from the table and ran upstairs, hoping to answer his phone before whomever it was hung up.

"He's extremely polite." Hunith observed, dishing up her own bowl of slop, urm I mean porridge, Merlin mentally corrected himself.

"Yes, he's Uther Pendragon's son, you know the-"

"Owner of one of the largest law firms in the world." She finished off for him, looking extremely impressed. Merlin nodded. "Wow."

"Tell me about it."

"You know I always had a bit of a crush on Uther, when I was younger and he had just started." Merlin groaned and let his head drop to the table.

"Mum! That's wrong on so many levels."

"What?!" She widened her eyes in feigned offense, although the corners of her mouth were still turned up.

"It was Morgana," Arthur walked into the kitchen, hesitating in the doorway. "She said Father rung her and we have to be home by the afternoon, which means we have to leave now." He gave Merlin a sad smile before turning to Hunith. "Thank you so much for letting me stay, it was very helpful and very kind on such short notice."

"Oh no, not at all." She smiled up at him again.

"I'm just going to collect my things and then I'll go and get Morgana."

"I'll come with you, seeing as Morgana is staying at Gwen's, I was going to go round to her house anyway." Merlin stood up, facing Arthur.

"No need to ask or anything!" He turned around to face his mother.

"Can I go? Yes! Great!" He walked past Arthur, indicating to him to follow and ran up the stairs to the spare room.

Hunith shook her head at her son's rudeness briefly, before contemplating the look her son and his new 'friend' had just shared, a look she recognised too well.

* * *

**Next chapter will be the last... about time too is what you're all thinking! *I'm physic just like Captain Jack ;P***

**Thank you again for reading and reviewing, it means a lot.**


	16. It's under the bed

**Thank you very much everyone! I really didn't think anyone was particularly bothered with this story and your reviews made my day! :D**

* * *

Chapter Sixteen

Merlin sat on the edge of the bed in the spare room as Arthur rummaged around, searching for his coat. He had an inkling that Arthur had accidently kicked it under the bed the night before, but decided not to say anything. He didn't want him to leave, not yet.

"When will I see you next?" Merlin mumbled to his feet. He felt like such a girl.

"I'll try to come up next weekend if you like." Merlin looked up at the blond who had temporarily stopped searching and was facing him from the other side of the room and nodded. Arthur smiled weakly before half-heartedly picking the pillows up off the bed and looking underneath them. "It's only a two hour drive if you think about it." Arthur smiled again, but Merlin could see it was forced. "It shouldn't be too hard, I'll definitely come and visit-" His voice hitched as he put the pillows back and pulled the duvet up, making the bed. Merlin watched as the blond brought his hand up to his eyes, quickly dabbing away any wetness that had escaped them.

"I'll come visit you too, whenever I can, me and Gwen." Arthur nodded and bent down to look behind the wardrobe. "It's under the bed." Arthur stood up slowly and turned to face Merlin.

"I know." But he made no attempt to reach for it. He just stood by the wardrobe, facing the brunette whose eyes were stinging with tears. It was ridiculous, Merlin thought to himself, that he was about to cry over someone he barely knew and would see again next weekend. But it didn't stop the salty water running down his cheek.

Both boys just stayed where they were, searching each other's eyes until Arthur's phone beeped, causing both to jump. Arthur reached down to pull the phone out of his pocket as Merlin wiped his eyes and slipped of the bed, reaching underneath it to grab Arthur's coat along with his scarf, which neither boy had noticed was missing.

"Hello." Merlin heard Arthur's voice crack slightly before sniffing. "What? Yeah I'm fine. Right now? Okay I'm on my way. No I'm not crying." Arthur let out a half laugh half sob before biting down on his lip. "Mmm-hmm, okay we'll go as soon as I've found my coat." Merlin looked down at the coat he was holding to his chest and sighed before standing up and facing Arthur. "Okay, bye." He snapped the phone shut and took the coat out of Merlin's outstretched hand."You're coming with me to pickup Morgana, In fact don't have my car, so you're taking me to go and pick up Morgana!" Arthur smiled at the brunette before cupping his chin with a rough hand. "You don't even have to say bye yet, don't get upset."

Merlin smiled and Arthur placed a soft kiss on his lips, before taking his hand and leading him downstairs to the car.

* * *

"Call me as soon as you get back! Or even in the car! And make sure you email me every day, I gave you my address didn't I?" Merlin laughed as he saw Gwen fussing over Morgana, who was grinning after every demand.

"Yes you did. And I will ring you as soon as I get back AND in the car if that'll make you feel better." Gwen nodded and Morgana placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

Arthur stood beside Merlin as they watched the girls say their goodbyes, one arm draped over his shoulder. Merlin leant closer to him, resting his head on his chest and bit his lip. He wanted to tell Arthur that he loved him, he wanted to so badly but he couldn't. For one, he barely knew the boy; two Arthur may not feel the same it could just be a little fling for him, Merlin didn't want to think that this was the case, but it was a possibility, and three, he was too nervous. He didn't want to say it wrong, or at the wrong time, or to be laughed at, or sound stupid, or-

His thoughts we're interrupted as he heard Arthur mumble something into his hair.

"Pardon?" He whispered, not believing what he heard, blush beginning to creep up his neck.

"I said-" He heard Arthur sigh, warm breath moving his hair. "That I think I love you." Merlin froze against Arthur's chest. He did hear right."I mean, that was probably a bit too soon, you probably aren't even thinking on that scale... urm, just, you know, forget I said anything." Merlin mentally shook himself and drew himself out of Arthur's grasp to stand in front of him, searching his face for any hint that he was joking. After seeing the pure honesty is Arthur's expression, Merlin grinned and grasped the back of Arthur's head, tugging it towards him and catching his lips in a passionate kiss, breathing in at the same time to capture Arthur's scent.

Arthur grabbed the back of Merlin's neck with one hand and placed the other on his lower back, pulling him almost impossibly closer, running his tongue impatiently across Merlin plump, bottom lip, begging for access which was immediately granted with a small whimper on Merlin's part. Arthur slid his tongue into Merlin's mouth, causing the raven haired boy to go weak at the knees.

"We have to leave now!!" The boys jumped apart to see a bright red Gwen and an impatient Morgana staring at them. "Finally! Gwen has been politely clearing her throat for the past 5 minutes, did you not hear?"Both boys blushed, as neither had heard. "I want to leave about as much as you do, but we have to, so get you're arse back into the car!" Arthur nodded and placed one last kiss on Merlin's forehead, before walking over to the car and climbing into the driver's seat.

"You'll see him next weekend when the both come down." Gwe had moved so she was standing beside her friend.

"I know." They both smiled sadly as they waved at the two in the car. Suddenly, Merlin's mouth dropped open and he dropped his hand down to his side. "Wait!" he ran after the car, which had only made it part way down the drive and had stopped when Merlin had shouted. Gwen stared after him.

"Merlin? What is it?" Arthur wound down the window so he and Merlin were face to face. Merlin smiled up at him.

"I forgot to say, I love you too." He grinned and leaned forwards to kiss Arthur on the nose before stepping back and waving again.

Arthur chuckled and shook his head. "I'll see you next week!" He wound the window back up and began driving away from the house again, leaving Merlin to walk back over to Gwen.

"You know something Merlin?" Gwen was stood by her house, arms folded and one eyebrow raised. "You're real girl sometimes!" She grinned at him again before linking arms and walking towards the front door.

* * *

**I am almost ashamed by the amount of cheesy cheesiness in this chapter.... almost :D**

**This _is_ the last chapter, but I'm going to do and epilogue about their life in teh future!**

**Please review! xD**


	17. Epilogue

**This is set about ten years ish in the future...maybe 20... I don't think it really matters to be honest...**

**Can I say a HUGE thank you to all my reviewers for all of my fic's including this one, you have no idea how much it means and I love you all for it!:D**

* * *

Epilogue

_Ilovemylife has signed on_

Arthur grinned as he put down his coffee and drew his laptop towards him.

_Author-Arthur: You're supposed to be working!_

_Ilovemylife: I am working! Kind of... They changed the shifts so I'm not needed for another ten minutes anyway._

_Author-Arthur: Suuure... Anyway, how's that last picture going?_

_Ilovemylife: It's on the desk underneath chapter eight. _Arthur looked over his laptop to the various pile of papers swamping his desk.

_Author-Arthur: Where's chapter eight?_

_Ilovemylife: Top right hand corner where you usually keep your laptop._

He leant over to pick up the large pile of papers under where he had just pulled his laptop from and began rifling through them, catching his breath as he caught sight of the illustration, dropping his writing to the table.

Merlin had drawn his 'happily ever after' for him. It was beautiful; a swirling mix of soft colour's surrounding a light clearing, the silhouettes of a couple standing out in the middle, looking out over a gentle lake. His laptop beeped from where he'd left it.

_Ilovemylife: Have you found it?_

_Author-Arthur: Merlin it's beautiful!_

_Ilovemylife: I've still got a couple of things to do to it._

_Author-Arthur: No! It's perfect! _He cringed to himself, he was such a girl.

_Ilovemylife: You are such a girl._

_Author-Arthur: I am not, and if anyone knows that it's you. *Meaningful Look*_

_Ilovemylife: Haha, so true. Gwen rang me. She says Morgana is loving the attention!_

_Author-Arthur: I'm sure she is! It's a shame still. _Arthur frowned. Morgana had taken over his father's company in his place barely a month ago. His father had been in a car accident not long before, no one had expected it and even though he and his father had not been on speaking terms it was still hard. Merlin had understood and sat with him in his room for the first week. He didn't cry, he wasn't even sad, he just felt... empty.

_Ilovemylife: I know babe. But it's good that she's doing such a fantastic job. And she and Gwen are so happy together. And you and I are too, Just, focus on now. _Arthur smiled at the screen softly. Merlin always knew what to say to make him feel better.

_Author-Arthur: I love you._

_Ilovemylife: I know that you fool. _Arthur laughed out loud before picking up his abandoned coffee and taking a sip, waiting for his partner to return the favour.

_Ilovemylife: I love you too, so much. _He smiled and put his mug down.

_Author-Arthur: I should think so too! Now get back to work, I need to finish this chapter if I'm going to reach number one again!_

_Ilovemylife: That reminds me, I haven't drawn the front cover yet, I got a fair bit of praise for the last one._

_Author-Arthur: Yeah you do... And I need to finish the book :P_

_Ilovemylife: Okay okay I get the hint; you don't want to talk to me... fine I'll go. *sobs*_Arthur stared incredulously at the screen. How could Merlin even accuse him of such a thing?!

_Author-Arthur: Don't say that! You know it's not true! I adore you more than anything in the world and would love to talk to you all day, but I can't, we both have to work. _Arthur smirked, wondering how he would reply to that.

_Ilovemylife: I know, I know... I love you too. I'll see you as SOON as I'm done, I promise. Xxx_

_Author-Arthur: I'll hold you too that. Xxx_

Arthur signed out and shut his laptop, pushing it back through a sea of papers to its usual corner before picking up his notebook and pulling a pen out from behind his ear and continued to write...

* * *

**Conclusion... Check! :D**

**Please review :) x**

**I might... If I am given ideas, do a sequel...? Yay or nay?**


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